New Georgia O’Keeffe touring exhibition to open at The Beaney

Georgia O’Keeffe: Memories of Drawings is a brand new Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition which presents a remarkable collection of work from the pioneering American artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Opening for the first time at The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury next Saturday 23 October to Sunday 5 December 2021, then touring throughout the UK, this new display will showcase 21 photogravures of drawings produced by the artist between 1915 – 1963, reflecting the period in which O’Keeffe established herself as a major figure in American Modernism.

Renowned for her distinctive balance of abstraction with figuration and her tenacity in pursuing her innovative style, Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) is one of the most important artists in 20th Century American art. Her iconic works of organic forms – including flowers and bones – surreal abstractions, rural landscapes and urban cityscapes uniquely captured the experience of her environment, whilst also breaking new ground for women artists.

The works in this display demonstrate O’Keeffe’s distinctive style and chart the key trajectories and motifs in her practice. Photogravure is a printmaking process that produces etchings with the tone and detail of a photograph through exposure onto a copper plate. The exhibition includes nine prints of her earliest charcoal abstracts alongside works originally rendered in pencil and watercolour, capturing subjects ranging from the artist’s early morning excursions with her sister, to surreal still lifes of seashells, banana flowers and animal horns.

Displayed alongside her drawings, exhibition texts will also recall the artist’s own commentary – sourced from a fragmentary but often poetic text she published alongside the collection – about why she made these drawings.

The exhibition will also showcase original artwork created by people living with dementia, families and young people. These community artworks, inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe, were created through a series of workshops at The Beaney led by the artist Colette Whittington.

Michelle Moubarak, Museums & Cultural Programme Director, said: “This is the latest high quality exhibition to go on show at The Beaney and we expect it to be very popular with visitors. Georgia O’Keeffe has a rich body of work behind her and this collection of some of her most stunning pieces cements her status as one of the leading artists of the 20th century.”

Georgia O’Keeffe: Memories of Drawings is on at The Beaney from Saturday 23 October to Sunday 5 December 2021. Admission is free, with donations encouraged. More information can be found at thebeaney.co.uk

Georgia O’Keeffe: Memories of Drawings is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition from the Southbank Centre, London.