Analysis of Pelvis Series, Red with Yellow, 1945

Great paintings ask important and sometimes enormous questions.

Through the analysis and conservation of one painting, Pelvis Series, Red with Yellow, 1945, (oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in (91.4 x 121.9 cm), extended loan, private collection, [L.1997.3.4]), we can connect to a threshold moment in history for New Mexico, for the world and for Georgia O’Keeffe. Dale Kronkright, Head of Conservation, discusses how the exploration of O’Keeffe’s paints used in this 1945 painting connects her and us to workers at Los Alamos National Lab, the coal, lead, zinc, barium and cadmium mines in New Mexico and to the U.S. Department of Justice Japanese American Internment Camp in Santa Fe.

Featured image: Tony Vaccaro. Georgia O’Keeffe with “Pelvis Series, Red with Yellow, 1960. Chromogenic print, 14 x 17 inches. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Museum Purchase. © Tony Vaccaro. [2007.3.1] https://collections.okeeffemuseum.org/object/6497/

This program was recorded Dec 2, 2020 as part of the Mornings with O’Keeffe lecture series.