Untitled (Abstraction) 1916 - 1917

This is an untitled abstraction by Georgia O’Keeffe, rendered in charcoal, and the pulling and smudging of the material speaks to a kind of exploratory process, right? What's immediately striking is the velvety texture that O’Keeffe coaxes from simple charcoal. It’s all soft edges and gradients that somehow manage to suggest both volume and a certain ephemeral quality. Check out the way she uses the charcoal to create these dark, shadowed areas that seem to be pushing forward. There’s an area at the top where the charcoal is really built up, thick and intense. That concentration of dark, velvety pigment draws me in, but then my eye is encouraged to travel down and around the lighter, ghostlier marks. In some ways this piece puts me in mind of the work of Vija Celmins, but it lacks that artist's cool detachment. Instead, this feels so intimate, you know? Almost like a whisper. Like something deeply felt but just out of reach. And I love that ambiguity.