MMFA 2024: Georgia O'Keeffe and Henry Moore

Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore:

Giants of Modern Art

February 10 – June 2, 2024

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is presenting the Canadian exclusive Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore: Giants of Modern Art. This large-scale exhibition sets for the first time the work of American painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887‑1986) in dialogue with the British sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986).

The exhibition is organized by the San Diego Museum of Art. It examines in parallel the lives and the artistic paths of these two 20th-century icons. Through their over 120 works, as well as the additional recreation of each artist’s studio, visitors can discover the evolution of O’Keeffe’s and Moore’s artistic practices, and how the artists emphasized the fundamental relationship between the humanity and the natural world.

Though they lived on separate continents, O’Keeffe and Moore shared a coherent vision and approach to Modernism. Their commonality lies in their intense sensitivity to the natural world and their ongoing exploration of their rural and open environments surroundings. Natural forms were both for O’Keeffe and Moore central to their individual artistic creation.

Both O’Keeffe and Moore, on their daily excursions and travels, both artists collected stones, animal skulls and bones, gnarled roots, pieces of wood, and coiled seashells with which they filled their studios. Their vast collections of such found objects reveal striking similarities. The first ever, the meticulous recreation of their respective studios enables the public to see how these found objects shaped their creation and inspired some of their most important works.

Georgia O’Keeffe's studio

Henry Moore's Studio

A remarkable collection of works

O’Keeffe and Moore have been the subjects of innumerable exhibitions but never before has their work been brought together. The artworks in the exhibition come mainly from the Henry Moore Foundation, in Hertfordshire, England, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, in New Mexico, as well as from approximately 20 museums and private collections.

The works on display comprise paintings, works on paper and sculptures in diverse media, ranging from plasters and bronzes to lead, rare woods like elm and lignum vitae, marble, as well as Hopton Wood stone, Cumberland alabaster and even a sculpture carved from stalactite. 

Masterpieces include in MMFA exhibition:

Moore’s stringed Bird Basket (1939), Reclining Figure (1959-1964), Working Model for Three Piece No. 3: Vertebrae (1968) and Working Model for Oval with Points (1968-1969),

and O’Keeffe’s Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. 3 (1930), Ram’s Head, Blue Morning Glory (1938) and Pedernal – From the Ranch #1 (1956). 

In addition, the present Montreal exhibition includes works from its own collection, including a transformation drawing and four sculptures by Moore, as well as a portrait of O’Keeffe photographed by Yousuf Karsh.

The exhibition also integrates a selection of video interviews conducted with the two artists at certain points in their careers.

Mary-Dailey Desmarais, MMFA Chief Curator, states:

“We are thrilled to collaborate with the San Diego Museum of Art to present the work of pioneering modern artists Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore in Montreal. Illuminating the singular and powerful, if unspoken, dialogue between O’Keeffe and Moore, this exhibition sheds new light on their shared appreciation for the interconnection between humans and the natural world, an essential subject for our time.”

Anita Feldman, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, San Diego Museum of Art, and Curator of the exhibition comments:

“The two artists met only once that we know of, on the occasion of Moore’s solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1946. O’Keeffe had also had a solo exhibition there the same year. We have to wonder what this formidable institution was saying to devote their program to these two artists just as the world was reeling from the trauma of war. Could it be that their art offered something life affirming, positive and healing through its humanistic connection with nature?”

Iris Amizlev, Curator – Community Engagement and Projects at the MMFA and curator of the Montreal presentation, elaborates:

“Given the many similarities in O’Keeffe’s and Moore’s artistic interests, habits, formal explorations and iconographic vocabularies, it’s difficult to fathom that no extensive exchange of ideas ever occurred between them. Linked by an intangible connection that transcended time and space, they followed parallel trajectories of prolific output inspired by natural forms.”

After Montreal, the exhibition will be presented at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (October 13, 2024 – January 20, 2025).

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All photos @ Nadia Slejskova

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Visit the the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts website to check on the opening hours and to purchase your ticket online.

The grandson of the artist Henry Moore, whose name is also Henry Moore and who works at the Henry Moore's Foundation in England, was also present at the Press Conference. He is captured in the two photos below.