Mornings with O’Keeffe | Georgia O’Keeffe’s Devotion to the Book of Tea

One of Georgia O’Keeffe’s favorite books was The Book of Tea, written in 1906 by the Japanese art historian Okakura Kakuzo, the Asian Arts Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and a friend of her professor at Columbia, Arthur Wesley Dow. The Book of Tea was Okakura’s masterful attempt to translate the tea traditions of the East to an American culture caught up in opulent materialism. Let us drink tea and “linger in the beautiful foolishness of things,” he wrote.

O’Keeffe owned two copies of the book and, as her eyesight diminished late in life, she often asked her sitters to read passages to her after dinner. Okakura scholar Bruce Richardson brings to life the incredible story of a Japanese artist who inspired the West’s understanding of tea, art, and architecture while using the familiar metaphor of a teacup. Richardson edited the 2011 Benjamin Press edition of The Book of Tea, and designed the three custom O’Keeffe Museum Tea Blends sold in our gift shop. He will talk about how, following his first visit to Abiquiú, he was inspired to create those teas, as well as the artistic blends he creates for major art museums across the country.

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This talk is presented as part of Mornings with O’Keeffe, a free virtual lecture series held on the first Wednesday of each month. Please register in advance. Email contact@gokm.org or call 505-496-1000 for assistance with event registration.

Can’t make the talk? This program will be recorded and posted on our website and YouTube Channel.

About the Speaker

Bruce Richardson has been at the forefront of the American tea renaissance for over 35 years. He has written a dozen books about tea, including The New Tea Companion and A Social History of Tea. Richardson serves as a Contributing Editor for TeaTime magazine and Tea Master for the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. He is the founder of Elmwood Inn Fine Teas, headquartered in Danville, Kentucky.