Georgia O'Keeffe

June 1918

O'Keeffe comes to New York; he leaves his family

In early June 1918 O'Keeffe moved to New York from Texas after Stieglitz promised her a quiet studio. Within a month his wife Emmy came home during one of the first nude photography sessions in the family apartment and told him to stop seeing O'Keeffe or get out; Stieglitz left and immediately found a place in the city where he and O'Keeffe could live together.

early 1921

Exhibition at the Anderson Galleries: 146 prints

At the invitation of Mitchell Kennerley, in early 1921 Stieglitz hung his first one-man exhibition since 1913: of the 146 prints only 17 had been seen before, and 46 were of O'Keeffe, many of them nudes, with the model unidentified. In the catalogue he made his famous declaration: “I was born in Hoboken. I am an American. Photography is my passion. The search for Truth my obsession.”

late 1924

27 photographs for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

At the end of 1924 Stieglitz donated 27 photographs to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the first time a major museum included photographs in its permanent collection.

1929

O'Keeffe leaves for New Mexico

In 1929 O'Keeffe moved to New Mexico, where she created her famous series of desert landscapes and gained recognition and financial security. When she returned to New York, Stieglitz's affair with his pupil Dorothy Norman was over, but they could not restore their former relationship.

15 December 1929

Opens An American Place

On December 15, 1929, Stieglitz opened An American Place, the largest gallery he had ever managed, with the first darkroom of his own in the city. For sixteen years he showed his friends Marin, Demuth, Hartley, Dove and Strand there, and O'Keeffe received at least one major exhibition each year.

1937

Heart disease ends his photography

In 1937 Stieglitz gave up photography because of serious heart disease; he continued to run An American Place until his death.