Roots

Details

IDA TEN EYCK O'KEEFFE (1889-1961)
Roots
signed and dated 'Ida Ten Eyck O'Keeffe/1932' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
20 x 26 in. (50.8 x 66 cm.)
Painted in 1932.

Provenance

Alexander Raydon, New York.
By descent to the late owner.

Literature

Dallas Museum of Art, Ida O'Keeffe: Escaping Georgia's Shadow, exhibition catalogue, Dallas, Texas, 2018, pp. 152-53.

Exhibited

Madison, Wisconsin, Madison Art Association, Dual Exhibition of Catherine Klenert and Ida O'Keeffe, January 1933, no. 35.
New York, Delphic Studios, Ida Ten Eyck O'Keeffe, March 27-April 9, 1933, no. 15.
(Probably) Springfield, Missouri, Springfield Art Museum; Springfield, Missouri, Southwest Missouri State Teachers College, April-October 1933.
New York, Salons of America, Forum Gallery, Twelfth Annual Spring Salon, April 9-May 6, 1934, no. 2,840.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Painted by Georgia O'Keeffe's sister Ida O'Keeffe, Roots is one of two works related to the artist's 1932 oil Royal Oak of Tennessee (Private Collection, New York), depicting a large oak tree in Bristol, Tennessee that was once a famous mustering point during the Revolutionary War. In a letter accompanying her application to the Public Works of Art Program, she cited the present work's exhibition at the Salons of America in 1934 and described, "'Roots', the roots of a very large oak in Tennessee. They look more like mountains. Were painted in the fall after the frost. A tiny maple tree grows out of the roots & is firey red. A huge fungi growth (white) springs from the earth" (unpublished letter, April 20, 1934). The other related work Roots in Autumn (Private Collection) was painted later in 1940.

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