Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore | Artistic connection

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) brings together Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore for an exhibition that eloquently demonstrates that the work of these two artists, who lived on two different continents, has striking similarities. Even disturbing.

Did Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore ever meet?

The answer is not clear. The two artists worked at the same time; he in England, she in the United States.

In 1946, in New York, the Museum of Modern Art devoted separate retrospectives to them. They would probably have crossed paths, at least during an event. But there is no trace of this possible meeting anywhere.

We can then wonder why the San Diego Museum of Art had the idea of ​​bringing them together for a joint exhibition.

Really ?

We know, and recognize, the work of Georgia O’Keeffe, particularly her very colorful, very structured flowers. This grandiose American painter spent part of her life in New Mexico and her adopted land is also very present in her work through these magnificent landscapes.

At first glance, little to do with Moore, also a gigantic artist. The Briton is famous for his sculptures, often gigantic too, but not as much as one might think: only 10% of his sculptures are large – including two which have been in front of the MMFA, rue Sherbrooke Ouest, for several years.

If we only know that about them, we don’t see a link at first glance. Yet it is there and probably lies at the root of their art, where nature is. Both were fascinated by the land; collected bones and stones; collected shells or animal bones. This is noted in their work, as in the exhibition which is divided into a thematic route: bones, stones, shells, flowers, etc.

A formal meeting

The exhibition pays homage to these two giants who approached abstraction, without embracing it. You can visit it while appreciating the work of one. Then on the other. But it is better to accept this idea of ​​dialogue between artists by entering the rooms of the museum where the works have really been intertwined. And the connections are sometimes striking.

Examples.

A small bronze Moore pebble made in 1977 is on display next to a 1938 painting by O’Keeffe. The two works seem to belong to the same corpus.

Same strange phenomenon when we find ourselves facing a lithograph by Moore, made in 1973 after a visit to Stonehenge. In this exhibition, she rubs shoulders with a painting by Georgia O’Keeffe from 1957 created after a trip to Peru. The two works speak to each other.

Or is this all a figment of our imagination?

Inevitably, we come to wonder if the collision disrupts our judgment.

In the part of the exhibition where it is a question of forms, we come to completely review Moore’s sculptures. They are accompanied by Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers which are completely revealed. You sometimes feel like a voyeur.

Is this artistic serendipity real?

“I see things that I hadn’t seen before,” admits Henry Danowski, who knows the sculptor’s work well, since he is his grandson.

Henry Danowski, son of Mary, only daughter of Henry Moore and the American art dealer Ray Danowski, was 2 years old when his grandfather died. He was present at the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday morning. He without hesitation recognizes a common influence, which comes from this interest in natural forms.

What we find in the reconstructions of the artists’ workshops, for the somewhat Walt Disney part of the exhibition. Because we all like to see this little physical, very concrete piece of their universe. The stones, the skulls, the shells are there.

The exhibition also contains some photos of the artists, including this magnificent portrait of the American by Yousuf Karsh and two short videos where we see them talking about their works – and in which Georgia O’Keeffe cuts short a popular debate, by saying that those who see sexual representations in his flowers only have to question their own perception. Many of us will do it.

Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore – Giants of Modern Art. At the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, from February 10 to June 2, 2024.

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