Georgia O’Keeffe’s Dazzling Ritz Tower Joins Museum’s Collection

The dynamic 1928 oil painting is the newest addition
to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum’s collection

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—January 28, 2019 (Santa Fe, NM)—The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum is excited to announce the newest addition to its permanent collection, Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1928 oil painting, Ritz Tower. Created during her rise to art world stardom, the work captures the iconic building at night. The slender painting is one of O’Keeffe’s rare depictions of skyscrapers in New York City.

“This is a painting as dazzling as the modern city itself,” says Ariel Plotek, Curator of Fine Art for the O’Keeffe Museum. Throughout the 1920s, Georgia O’Keeffe lived in New York with her husband, photographer and art impresario Alfred Stieglitz. The couple was at the center of the city’s cultural scene, with O’Keeffe’s exhibitions receiving critical acclaim. Some of her peers initially discouraged her from painting urban subjects. Later in life, O’Keeffe recalled, “The men decided they didn’t want me to paint New York . . . They told me to ‘leave New York to the men.’ I was furious!” One of the most striking examples of her rebuttals is Ritz Tower.

“It is a dynamic, glamourous portrayal,” says Plotek. “O’Keeffe effectively rendered the spirit of the city by making it a night scene teeming with energy. She used the bright punches of electric light, the soaring architecture, and the glow of the moon to great effect.”

The Museum acquired the painting through the Owings Gallery in Santa
Fe, New Mexico. “We’re thrilled to have this important painting at the
O’Keeffe,” says Plotek. “It helps us tell a critical part of O’Keeffe’s story:
art darling of the ‘Roaring Twenties.’ We know our visitors will love Ritz Tower as much as we do.”

Ritz Tower will be on view in the Museum’s galleries, beginning on March 1, 2019. A special Museum members-only preview event celebrating Ritz Tower will take place at the Museum on Thursday, February 28, 2019. For more details about membership, click here:
https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/store/products/connect/membership/.

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ABOUT THE GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM: Since 1997, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has
shared the art, life, and story of Georgia O’Keeffe with visitors from around the world. Located in
New Mexico, where Georgia O’Keeffe lived the final decades of her life, the O’Keeffe has sites
and experiences in two historic destinations, Santa Fe and Abiquiú. For more information, please visit okeeffemuseum.org.

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