Georgia O'Keeffe—Hands and Horse Skull 1931

This black and white photograph was taken by Alfred Stieglitz. It shows Georgia O’Keeffe’s hands gently resting on a horse’s skull. The photograph captures a moment of tenderness, with O’Keeffe’s hands appearing to caress and cradle the skull. You know, I can imagine Stieglitz circling O’Keeffe and this found object, trying out different angles and depths of field, waiting for the right moment to click, click, click. The stark contrast between the delicate skin of O’Keeffe's hands and the rough texture of the bone creates a striking visual contrast, emphasizing the themes of life and death, fragility and resilience. The curves of the skull echo the shapes O’Keeffe was painting at the time, the curves of flowers and the desert. It makes me wonder if they collected this object together. It also makes me think about other photographs, by people like Robert Mapplethorpe, who also understood how to make black and white photography feel so physical. Photographs like this reveal the conversations artists have with each other across time. It’s like they are all feeding each other, and us, you know?