Georgia O'Keeffe and the Obsession over Possessions

ALFRED STIEGLITZ "GEORGIA O'KEEFFE"

Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 USD
Highest bid reached $22,000. (unsold)

On March 5, 2020 the Sotheby’s auction house, New York offered 106 items (which was cut back to 95 lots) from the collection of Juan Hamilton (born 1945). This auction was a rare opportunity to own something once owned by Georgia O’Keeffe who willed much of her estate to Mr. Hamilton, her last companion and caretaker. It’s not unusual for someone to include their caretaker in their will, especially when there are not any apparent immediate family heirs. In the case of Hamilton, he’s become a touchstone for controversy among O’Keeffe fans. Why the O’Keeffe lovers can’t wrap their minds around the fact that this man cared for a woman in her declining years and that she trusted him implicitly, has created constant controversy and innuendo. Now Hamilton raises his head once again, as he too ages and can’t take any of it with him. Many of the items went far beyond price expectations, very few items did not meet reserve prices. I've added the information as to what lots sold for with their add ons by the auction house. The high estimate total (if everything sold at top dollar) was $13.3 Million, the total taken in was $17.2 Million and that is with some items not selling and some withdrawn. 

View of installation at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM
Photo taken by R. Cafazzo

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | ABSTRACTION Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 Sold at $668,000.

So why auction it off, rather than gift it to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM which has become the de-facto repository of O’Keeffe’s life work.

O'Keeffe sewing items from the 'Living Modern' exhibit

How do you value such common things that everyone owns?
Photo taken by R. Cafazzo

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (POPPY) Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 Sold at $43,750.

The answer is simpler than it seems, Value. To place proper values on items of what would be perceived as valuable there needs to be a record of similar items selling as a matter of public record. For instance Antiques Roadshow appraisers look at what current market value has been at auction for objects of interest and quality. Most appraisers would do the same.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (CLAY POT) Estimate: 8,000 - 12,000 Sold at $60,000.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (CLAY POT) Estimate: 8,000 - 12,000 Sold at $32,500.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (CLAY POT) Estimate: 7,000 - 10,000 Sold at $50,000.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (CLAY POT) Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 Sold at $27,500.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (CLAY POT) Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 Sold at $30,000.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (CLAY POT AND STAND) Estimate 10,000 - 15,000 Sold at $50,000.

Examples of O'Keeffe's pottery

Then there’s the matter of ownership, Does it actually matter that a famous person once owned something and does that add to the value? Although O’Keeffe owned valuable items such as the Calder Mobile or the Mid-Century Modern furniture on display in her homes today, these have auction values and a history of such. Yet, how do you value a box of rocks that O’Keeffe picked up during her walks? Is there any value to the skulls and bones she collected, which the southwest is plentiful of and which O’Keeffe herself made iconic through her many paintings of them as subject matter. How about the bins of Tupperware in the pantry of her Abiquiu home? Do these have any value? I would think that most of us in finding a cabinet full of tupperware in a deceased persons home would discard the entire lot of it, but there exist two entire bins full in her home.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | SMALL HILLS NEAR ALCALDE Estimate: 50,000 - 70,000 Sold at $100,000.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | HILL - ALCALDE II Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000 Sold at $81.250.

Why would Juan Hamilton not just gift it all to the museum is the question on most people’s minds, often calling him names referencing that there must be greed involved. Today, Juan Hamilton is listed as ‘Special Consultant to the Board’ under Board of Directors on the O’Keeffe Museum website. He was at first a founding Board member, then not a board member with a bit of drama involved behind the scenes, then law suits ensued and now he’s back on the board as a consultant. I’m glad he is back, without his involvement the museum would have their hands tied in a multitude of ways.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE'S PIGMENTS | A COLLECTION OF 18 JARS LABELLED AND USED BY GEORGIA O'KEEFFE Estimate: 15,000 - 20,000 Sold at $75,000.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | O'KEEFFE'S SET OF ARTIST'S PASTELS 
Estimate: 5,000 - 7,000 Sold at $11,250.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE'S PIGMENTS | A COLLECTION OF 20 JARS LABELLED AND USED BY GEORGIA O’KEEFFE Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 Sold at $56,250.

I for one applaud Hamilton’s decision to auction off a selection of the enormous inventory of O’Keeffe-eana that he must have in his possession. Once the auction takes place he’ll then have established values for the rest of what he owns and can negotiate with insurance providers, agents and museums. Personally, I'd like to see some of the clothing be gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their Costume Institute. They'd be able to display some of it and properly care for the collection.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT WITH TRANSCRIPTION, TITLED "MY FIRST TRIP TO NEW YORK" Estimate: 6,000 - 8,000 Sold at $9,500.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE AND ALFRED STIEGLITZ'S MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE 

Estimate: 7,000 - 10,000

Sold at $15,000.

ALFRED STIEGLITZ | 10 CHECKS, EACH SIGNED BY ALFRED STIEGLITZ AND ENDORSED BY THE VARYING RECIPIENTS, NEW YORK, 1944–1946 Estimate: 8,000 - 12,000 
Checks reached $5,500. and have gone unsold

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | NATURE FORMS - GASPÉ Estimate: 4,000,000 - 6,000,000 

This abstraction masterwork sold for $6,870,200.
(In 2018 the Joan Mitchell abstract painting "Blueberry" 1969 sold at auction for $14.5 Million)

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | BLUE ROAD Estimate 400,000 - 600,000 Sold at $1,460,00.

Is a handwritten note by O’Keeffe valuable, or does something worn by her have value? We would think of course it is. Without a record of such items actually selling, appraisers are at a loss as to place a value on such items. In 2014 the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art was the high bidder at 44.4 million dollars (high estimate was set at 15 million) for O’Keeffe’s painting ‘Jimson Weed/White Flower no. 1’ setting a record for a female artist. This painting was auctioned through Sotheby’s from the O’Keeffe Museum in order to raise funds for future acquisitions. The museum (as do many museums today) does auction off some of its collection from time to time as a fundraising asset.

JUAN HAMILTON | PIEDRA I Estimate: 12,000 - 18,000 went unsold

JUAN HAMILTON | WAR Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 Sold at $22,500.

JUAN HAMILTON | AZUSHI BLUE III Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 Sold at $10,000.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (ROCK) Estimate: 25,000 - 35,000 Sold at $68,750.

Will this auction, which includes works by Juan Hamilton now raise the value of his work as well? It’s a question to be decided and the auction results were not all that kind to his work, the marketplace thus far has not been clamoring for his artworks. The auction does include little known and some surprisingly stunning art by Hamilton.

O'Keeffe recipes withdrawn from the auction

Recipe Box similar, if not identical to the one formerly in the Abiquiu home pantry in my possession

In 2019 fashion designer Tom Ford purchased the Alexander Calder Mobile from Juan Hamilton. For years it was hanging in O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu home, for me it’s a tragedy that the shadow play it created on the adobe walls are no more. The first year the O’Keeffe Abiquiu home was opened to the public for tours you could only view the Calder through the outside picture window or from a doorway inside. On our first visit to the house I noticed many items in full display, a few years later when we returned much had gone missing. Perhaps most people would have never noticed that a recipe box once on a pantry shelf was no longer there, but I did and it was disheartening that it was now gone. Now that recipe box is up for auction along with so many other items. 

A JAPANESE SIX-PANEL FOLDING SCREEN EDO/ MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY 

Estimate 2,000 - 3,000 Sold at $62,500.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (ABSTRACTION) Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 Sold at $13,750.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF O'KEEFFE'S INTRODUCTION FOR GEORGIA O'KEEFFE: A PORTRAIT BY ALFRED STIEGLITZ Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000 went unsold

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | FROM A DAY WITH JUAN I 
Estimate: 1,200,000 - 1,800,000 Sold at $2,420,000.

On one hand it’s similar to the way families divvy up items from family estates after the passing of loved ones. You choose something, then your siblings choose something, taking turns until everything is chosen and disbursed. The O’Keeffe Museum owns “Clouds 5/Yellow Horizon and Clouds” 1964/5, Hamilton owns “Untitled (From a Day with Juan” 1976/7 both of these were once hanging in the Abiquiu home, they had both been hanging in the studio on my first visit. 

ALFRED STIEGLITZ | FULL-LENGTH BLACK CAPE Estimate: 5,000 - 7,000 Sold at $7,500.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | MID-LENGTH OPEN BLACK COAT 
Estimate: 5,000 - 7,000 Unsold (high bid was $3,800.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | CUSTOM BLACK AND WHITE PLEATED DRESS 
Estimate: 7,000 - 10,000 Sold at $25,000.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | BLACK FLOOR-LENGTH OVERCOAT BY K. C. CHANG, MADE IN HONG KONG Estimate: 6,000 - 8,000 Sold at $10,000.

At other points in time O’Keeffe gifted some of the objects from her collections to her friends. The painting “The Wooden Virgin” is of a Hispanic bulto carving of ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’ which she purchased during her first visit to New Mexico and Taos. In Taos as a guest of Mabel Dodge Luhan, O’Keeffe would have seen and admired Mabel’s vast collection of santos by the local craftsmen. O'Keeffe did paint a version of this Saint carving, which from time to time the museum does display along with the actual carving.

Various views of 'Georgia O'Keeffe: Art, Image Style' aka 'Living Modern' photos taken by R.Cafazzo

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | GRAY TWO-PIECE SKIRT SUIT BY K. C. CHANG, MADE IN HONG KONG, WITH HAND-SEWN BLACK VELVET VEST Estimate: 7,000 - 10,000 Sold at $6,875.

The recent touring exhibition 'Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern' (the book by the same name cataloging the exhibit was published in 2017) of her clothing, photographs and paintings was mostly comprised of items which Mr. Hamilton inherited. If you had a chance to see this exhibit in one of it’s configurations (I had the opportunity to see the exhibition in 2017 at the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, MA where it was called “Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image, Style”), you’d know how much O’Keeffe-eana there actually is. Much more than what is being offered at the Sotheby’s auction. 

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | AN ALBUM OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF GHOST RANCH. CIRCA 1940S 
Estimate: 12,000 - 18,000 Sold at $27,500.

Soon the O’Keeffe Museum will begin offering tours of the inside of the O’Keeffe Ghost Ranch House. This has been under negotiation for some time and will be a welcome addition to all things O’Keeffe. I’m hopeful to be an invited guest when this becomes a long awaited reality. 

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (TREES) Estimate: 80,000 - 120,000 Sold at $106,250.

“…changes greatly augmented the amount of light flowing into the house, bringing a sense of openness and sleekness of modern architecture to a mud-and-wood structure situated in the isolation of the northern New Mexico desert.” Ghost Ranch House, Conclusion from the book. “O’Keeffe furnished the spaces of both houses sparsely, with modernist or simple handmade furniture that she arranged precisely.” The Abiquiu House, Conclusion. These two quotes are from the book “Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Houses, Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu” 2011. For a better understanding of just how rich the two homes once were and the treasures they once held this book provides an absolute look into what once was. 

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | SOME MEMORIES OF DRAWINGS. NEW YORK: ATLANTIS EDITIONS, 1974 Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 USD Sold at $21,250.

To see this complete set in Taos, each print is framed and on display at the Blake Hotel in Taos Ski Valley, 

ask at the front desk for a viewing.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | DRAWINGS Estimate: 6,000 - 8,000 Sold at $18,750.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | 1976, NO. V OF XXV NUMBERED COPIES FROM A LIMITED EDITION OF 200 Estimate: 3,000 - 4,000 Sold at $8,750.

As I watched the auction live online, my heart sank that I won’t be a bidder, even if I were to bid on one of the two selections of her pigments being offered, alas the starting bids are beyond my means.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (GHOST RANCH PATIO) 
Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 Sold at $87,500.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE | UNTITLED (PATIO DOOR) Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000  Sold at $75,000.

From the Sotheby’s Catalog: “…their unlikely friendship thrived for decades, for reasons that remain somewhat mysterious to outsiders. “They very quickly became confidants,” Carlsen said. “He, with the understanding that she was ageing, became her caretaker. He felt honoured to be able to contribute to her life in a meaningful way. But I’m under the impression that there was a great deal of admiration between them.” O’Keeffe took the young artist under her wing and helped him get shows in New York. In 1978, he had an exhibition at the Robert Miller Gallery. “Warhol and Joni Mitchell came to my opening – I couldn’t believe it!” he told Harper’s Bazaar.

Less than a decade later, in March 1986, O’Keeffe died. She left Hamilton much of her art collection, her home and belongings, a selection of which he later donated to the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. “It has been a true privilege to live with and care for these works for many years,” Hamilton said in a statement. “But it is now time to allow others the opportunity to enjoy and learn from these treasures. I hope that they will inspire a new generation of admirers and collectors of O’Keeffe, Stieglitz, and their inimitable circle, as they have long inspired me.” (Kayla Carlsen, is the head of Sotheby’s American Art.)

This is the Brass pin which was in the exhibition 'Living Modern'
Photo by R. Cafazzo

Side note: A few items such as the iconic O’K sterling silver spiral pin by Alexander Calder and the recipe box of handwritten recipes have been withdrawn from the auction. My thinking is there was a concern over reproductions of the pin and of publishing rights to the recipes.

If you'd like to be supportive of Georgia O'Keeffe and her lifework, there are many ways to do so. Visit the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, join the museum with a reciprocating membership, book a tour of the Abiquiu home (I highly recommend the secretive/private 'Behind the Scenes' tour, they've now added a photography tour with an additional fee, take a Ghost Ranch tour or go for a walk there yourself, visit the 'White Place' in Abiquiu the O'Keeffe Visitor Center has printed directions, or book a tour with me of all things O'Keeffe in Taos (you'd be surprised how much there is to see). I'd also ask that you be supportive of artists in your community or when you travel.

MARSDEN HARTLEY | FLOWERS IN A VASE Estimate 40,000 - 60,000 USD Sold at $275,000.

Images are courtesy Sotheby's, or the estate of Georgia O'Keeffe. As noted some images are by R. Cafazzo