Georgia O'Keeffe, New York, Jan. 31, 1948

The unadorned and confined character of Penn's portraits from the late 1940s were initially received with a certain amount of bewilderment by Vogue's editors. However, after the images began appearing regularly in the magazine, they garnered an excitement and adoration from viewers that has endured. These portraits, among them the present image of artist Georgia O'Keeffe, were created as part of an assignment handed to Penn in 1946 by the magazine's famous art director, Alexander Liberman. The intention was for each image to maintain focus on the distinct and varied personalities of the sitters. Consisting of two angled stage flats and an old carpet, Penn kept the set purposely stark in order to bring forth the style, countenance and inner emotion of each of his subjects. The resulting portraits are intensely honest, the present representation of O'Keeffe no less so.

The gelatin silver edition of this image was printed in the 1940s. This is the first time that a vintage print has appeared at auction.