As the new director of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, I feel privileged to reach out to you and talk with you about the things that make the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum so important. Is it the breathtaking images in our galleries of the vast American Southwest, of flowers rendered in intimate clarity, and the bones of the animals who shared this land with O’Keeffe? Or that we are a museum focused on the work of an American art icon? Or that we hold, preserve and interpret more than 50% of this prolific artist’s total lifetime output? Or is it that the archives in our Research Center hold more than 50,000 of O’Keeffe’s personal items: books and magazines she read, clothing she wore, photographs she took and that others took of her (including her husband, legendary photographer Alfred Stieglitz), her letters, her palettes, the special frames she designed for her work, her paintbrushes and paints.
It is that together these resources enable the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum to do what no other museum in the world can: bring the artist and the woman to life in an unrivaled manner. Through this inspiring collection, visitors can learn more about the development of an iconic American artist, from careful family portraits created by the young O’Keeffe in 1908 to huge southwestern landscapes completed toward the end of her life.
Yes, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is about an important collection of artwork and it is also an important part of America’s artistic heritage – one that came into being during a crucial moment in American art: the birth of American Modernism. These resources on O’Keeffe are unmatched in depth and richness – a national treasure.
This treasure requires ongoing care and conservation: special environments, preservation treatments, cleaning, constant reframing and re-glazing. As often as we can afford to, we send our exhibitions across country – for example, in recent years to New York, Washington, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, and California – so that other Americans may know and learn about our heritage.
It is easy in difficult times to lose sight of things that matter – the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum matters because it stewards living history and a uniquely American art experience. Our work ensures that these will remain available to all far into the future. I am honored to be part of this great work now, and invite you to join me in continuing it with your tax-deductible contribution.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Kret
Director, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
P.S. Remember - the IRS has determined that your contribution is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law, as no goods or services were provided in consideration for your gift!
To contribute to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's Annual Fund, call 505.946.1033 or click here.