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ART FOR ART SAKE: CHASING O'KEEFE

Every journey has a beginning and this journey began 63 years ago in 1946.  It goes from Nashville Tennessee to Santa Fe New Mexico and finally to Bentonville Arkansas, three locations seemingly completely different but with one common interest: a collection of fine art.

Throughout history battles have raged over cultural artifacts. Alexander the Great pillaged his conquests of their artifacts and stored them in Alexandria creating what was considered the greatest library in the history of mankind. The Romans who went on to pillage the Greeks, and every other civilization in their way burned the library down.  Napoleon was so impressed with the horses atop the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, he ordered it removed and shipped to the Musee Napoleon (now the Louvre). It was later returned after Napoleons demise years later. Hitler stole a healthy catalogue of art from his victims, including the French. Some of these pieces are still missing.

In the U.S. a contest of lesser severity took place in the United States - but in the court of law rather than a battlefield. The object of the battle was a collection of 101 pieces of art from the Alfred Stieglitz collection. It would pit a well respected but financially challenged historically Black college against a small, prominent and well-funded museum with an extremely well funded third contender joining the fray.  It also brought into question the right of small cash strapped non-for-profit institutions to sell donated artifacts to raise money.

Alfred Stieglitz  (by Edward Steichen from Metropolitan Museum of Art)

First some background; who is Alfred Stieglitz? Stieglitz is generally called the man who single handedly progressed photography from a hobby/commercial service to an accepted art form. He lived from 1864 to 1946 mostly in New York City. However it was in Europe that he developed his love for the camera and photography. So much so, were it not for the threat of being financially severed from the family fortune he might have stayed in Europe rather than return to the uncultured city of New York.

He became noted in New York for his fine photographs and the high standards he maintained and was soon chaperoned into another business: selling fine art. He formally introduced the United States to Auguste Rodin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Cezanne in his Gallery 291.

Georgia O'Keeffe, A Portrait, (by Alfred Steiglitz Museum of Fine Arts Boston)

He ran across some art by a young American unknown named Georgia O'Keefe and showed her paintings without her permission. At first she was upset with his brazen act, but would later enjoy the wealth he brought her for her art. An O'Keefe could fetch up to $25,000 when purchased from Stieglitz.

Soon their business relationship turned romantic and Stieglitz quickly divorced his wife (of a sham marriage) to focus on Georgia.  He was quite captivated by Georgia and captured over 300 photos of her; the earlier photographs were rather erotic (or as erotic as photos were in the early 1900s).

OíKeefe and Stieglitz eventually married and prospered. His contacts and promotion of her work made her a very wealthy woman. Wealthy enough to give her means to travel the world to discover and paint. After a stint in Europe she was drawn to New Mexico where she would live from time to time at the Ghost Ranch.  It was here that she painted images of the desert. Soon she bought a broken down home and out buildings in Abiquiu - not far from the Ghost Ranch. This is where she would be inspired to paint various versions of the view from her windows.

Back in New York, Stieglitz became increasingly ill and in 1946 died of a massive heart attack. Georgia managed to be at his side when he died. But now she was left with the monumental task of managing his huge collection. He had more than 3,000 photographs of his own, 850 works of art mostly by artists he represented, 580 prints by other photographers, an enormous collection of books and writings, plus nearly 50,000 pieces of correspondence.

She was given the sole authority of what to do with all of his belongings, and she took three years to personally sort through every single piece. She gave almost all of his works to major museums in the U.S., including the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, with other collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Library of Congress. His correspondence went to the Beinecke Rare Books Room and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

But there was a significant collection of 101 pieces that she decided to give to an institute, which caused quite a stir - Fisk University in Nashville.

It turns out a New York writer named Carl van Vechten who was prominent in the Harlem Renaissance was a friend of O'Keefe, Stieglitz and the first African American president at Fisk. Fisk had just gained global fame for its Jubilee Singers royal performance for the Queen Victoria of England and previously for President U.S. Grant at the White House.

Carl Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk University (Photo: Geoff Burton)

O'Keefe visited the campus, toured it and selected the building that was to house the collection. The building was renovated and the school took possession of the art in 1949.

The reason OíKeefe made such a radical decision was she was very aware that a collection in any other museum in the south would prohibit African Americans from seeing the works - Jim Crow was alive and well in the 1940s. By placing the art at Fisk, now anyone could see the works.

That should have been the end of the story, but events would revive interest in the collection.

NASHVILLE

In 1866 the first classes were held at Fisk School. Fisk though not the oldest Historically African-American college - that honor goes to Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University) - it has one of the more storied histories.  Locate less than two miles west of Nashvilleís celebrated Hermitage Hotel (one of the great hotels in the U.S. and a must-do); the campus is a mix of the old historic buildings a several newer structures.  John Ogden, the Reverend Erastus Milo Cravath, and the Reverend Edward P. Smith originally established the school at the former Union Army Barracks provided by General Clinton Fisk.  Ironically its history is marked by financial crisis averted by artistic and cultural achievements.

For example the world-famous Jubilee Singers began as a group of traveling students who set out from Nashville in 1871, utilizing the entire contents of the school treasury for travel expenses. Their gamble was that their music they could somehow raise money enough to keep open the doors of their debt-ridden school.

Fortunately their talent was so astounding, they soon were giving performances featuring Negro spiritual music as a genre.  The stunt paid off raising plenty of money for the school and drawing the attention of the world to the small school. Jubilee Hall is the prominent old building near Jefferson Street on the campus.

On the other end of the campus on Jackson Street is a small-distinguished building that might remind one of an old Bostonian home. This is the Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery, home of the Stieglitz Collection. This was the building O'Keefe chose to house the collection.

Georgia O'Keefe's Radiator Building is one of the highlights of the Stieglitz collection at Fisk University (Photo: Geoff Burton)

Over the course of recent years, Fisk, like so many of the historically black colleges, fell into financial distress because of shrinking enrollment and higher expenses. One of the casualties of the financial problems was the Van Vechten Gallery. It was in need of new air conditioning and general building maintenance to house the art.

To prevent damage to the collection the building was closed and the art was stored at the nearby Frist Center for Visual Arts.  The Frist, opened in 2001 in a refurbished Art Deco styled former post office building, is one of the most unique art centers in the world.  It has no permanent collection but hosts rotating exhibits throughout the year. Each exhibit is displayed for about two months and then changed. 

Storing the Stieglitz collection was not a problem for the Frist, perhaps with an eye on possibly showing the pieces.

As for Fisk's financial problems, a school board member learned that just one of the pieces from the Stieglitz collection could bring up to $12 million dollars. He proposed that the school consider selling a couple of the pieces to not only bail out the gallery space, but also the school. The matter was considered by the board and tabled until further information was gathered.

For the city of Nashville, this wasn't the first time the eyes of the world art community were on the southern city.  The city once touted itself as the Athens of the south referencing ancient Athens Greece known for its artwork. So mush so that in 1897 a full size scale replica of the Greek Parthenon was commissioned for Tennessee's Centennial Exposition. 

Inside Nashville's Parthenon stands a full size replica of the original Athena statue. Just as the original Athena by Pheidias, the greatest sculptor of classical antiquity, this new Athena by Alan LeQuire nearly 42 feet high and is gilded in gold leaf. It is the tallest indoor sculpture in the Western hemisphere.  The Parthenon is located in Centennial Park near Vanderbilt University.

Nashvilles full scale Parthenon at night. Inside is a full size replica of Athena gilded in gold by Alan LeQuere (Photo: Geoff Burton)

At the non-official entrance to Nashvilleís famous Music Row stands the nations largest bronze statue grouping, also by LeQuire - Musica. The statue at over 40 feet tall features nine colossal nude figures, male and female, dancing in a circle as a group. Originally unveiled in 2003, it upset many of the conservative locals who objected to the full frontal nudity of the figurines. But it has since been decided that it is not indecent but quite tasteful.

About eight miles southwest of Downtown Nashville is one of the more unique art settings in the United States: Cheekwood Gardens.  Originally the estate of Cheek family (originators of Maxwell House Coffee) Cheekwood sits of 100 acres of what was then forested land outside of Nashville. The grounds were designed and landscaped by a renowned architect in the style of a classic British garden.

The last family member donated the property as a botanical garden and art facility in late 1950s. Art from the permanent collection of the then Nashville Art Museum was moved to the site and voila, the new museum opened to the public.

Alan LeQuere next to his original model of Musica at his studio. His works are throughout Tennessee and the south. (Photo: Geoff Burton)

Nashville has seen its share of art maneuverings. But few were prepared for what came.

SANTA FE

Santa Fe is the nations second largest art market (by sales) behind New York. With more than 250 galleries and thousands of resident artists, the city's economy is largely driven by the arts and cultural tourism. Contrary to popular belief it already had established itself as a premium art colony years before O'Keefeís arrive in 1929. 

Eastern artist began visiting and settling in Santa Fe around the turn of the 20^th century. The attraction was, like now, the landscape. John Sloan and Randall Davey, exhibitors from the famed 1913 Armory Show in New York (of which Cezanne and Matisse also participated) established themselves in Santa Fe. Most artists set up shop in the back of the Palace of the Governors - as they still do.

The New Mexico landscape is what drew O'Keefe. This is her view from her home at the Ghost Ranch (Photo: Geoff Burton)

O'Keefe first visited the Ghost Ranch in 1934 after recovering from a nervous breakdown in New York and immediately decided she wanted to live there. She bought a secluded home away from the guest lodging and spent her days exploring and painting the surrounding area. Later she bought the home in Abiquiu and split her time between locales.

Most of her time was spent as a loner though she hired a personal assistant to assist her in Abiquiu. Her personal staff maintains Abiquiu to this day. As she grew frail in her 90s, she moved to Santa Fe where she died at the age of 98.

Until 2008, getting to Santa Fe was a bit of a challenge, as it has no commercial flights to its small airport. One had to fly into Albuquerque and rent a car or take the Greyhound bus.  However, in December of 2008, the New Mexico Rail Runner Express commuter train completed continuation service from Albuquerque to Santa Feís rail yard.  The trip from Albuquerque's Sunport (airport) to Santa Fe takes less than 1.5 hours.  Upon arrival passengers are within walking distance of downtown and the best hotels.

Exploring Santa Fe makes it easy to understand why artists are drawn to the area. There are over 250 art galleries, not including the Native artisans that surround the Governors plaza every morning hawking their jewelry and blankets.  Even at the Rail Runner Depot one will find a new development called SITE Santa Fe, a venue for exhibitions of contemporary artists as well as educational studios.

Though one could stay at the Ghost Ranch for total emersion into O'Keefe's life, the rooms are Spartan and the accommodations are meager at best. A better choice is to stay in Santa Fe at one of several exceptional facilities. La Fonda is one of the oldest hotels in not only Santa Fe but also New Mexico with a colorful history to go along with fabulous facilities.  The Inn of the Anasazi is probably the best hotel in the city, with creature comforts that are world class.  Both are located in the historic center of Santa Fe near the Palace of the Governors and all the art galleries and museums - the O'Keefe Museum is two blocks away.

The O'Keefe Museum was established in Santa Fe in 1997, eleven years after her death.

Entrance to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, constructed in the classic adobe style. (Photo: Geoff Burton)

The Museum maintains a collection of about 3,000 pieces of which 1150 are O'Keefe art. The museum also officially maintains and arranges tours of the home in Abiquiu. Next door to her home in Abiquiu is The Abiquiu Inn, which offers rooms and casitas at a reasonable rate. The cafe offers reasonably priced meals and sandwiches - Abiquiu is about an hourís drive from Santa Fe.  Though they don't have an official relationship with the Ghost Range they will assist in arranging a tour.

The Museum's holdings represent the largest repository of her work available to the public in a single institution. Subjects range from the artist's iconic flowers and bleached desert skulls to nudes, landscapes, cityscapes, still life's, and abstractions, dating from 1901 to 1984.

Upon hearing of Fisk's interest in selling parts of the Stieglitz collect to raise money, The O'Keefe Museum jumped at the chance to increase its collection. But another buyer was already in the mix.

BENTONVILLE

To say that Bentonville Arkansas is not on the casual tourist radar would be an understatement. Before 1970 barely 6000 people lived in this once quiet burg. Now it has a population of over 30,000 and a vibrant business community. Bentonville is, after all, the home to Wal-Mart - the largest company in the world.

Manufacturers of retail goods are very familiar with Bentonville; if they want to do business with the worldís largest retailer they must visit Bentonville for an audience. For larger venders they must maintain an office in Bentonville.  In 1998 a then new airport - the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport - was built specifically for Wal-Mart. It's good to be the biggest.

However, despite having the University of Arkansas in nearby Fayetteville and Tyson Chicken as a major employer and headquartered in Springdale, it wasn't until Wal-Mart flexed its significant muscle that the airport was quickly delivered.

Muscle and the intimidating use of that said muscle is now the way this journey goes.

That muscle convinced Embassy Suites to construct the worlds largest Embassy Suites (at 400 rooms) in Bentonville, it has the Cherokee nation building a massive resort and casino nearby, it was enough to convince Hyatt and Holiday inn to have new digs, and it was enough to get the nearby spa village of Eureka Springs to rebrand itself.

But aside from Eureka Springs, there was little reason for tourists to visit the area unless they wee doing business with Wal-Mart, Tyson or visiting the University of Arkansas. In Bentonville, one could visit the original Wal-Mart at 105 S. Main Street and learn the history of Wal-Mart. Or you can go to Daisy Air Rifle Museum in Rogers and reminisce about the air rifles of your childhood. Another point of interest is Bentonville's David Bogle's Museum of Native American Artifacts on O Street. But all other choices concern bird watching and the Peel Mansion.

Alice Walton, daughter of the late Sam Walton (founder of Wal-Mart) decided to build the premier art institution dedicated to American art and artists - Crystal Bridges. When completed it will house a museum of American art, which will be on view in more than 25,000 square feet of gallery space. The majority of the exhibit space will be devoted to American masterworks, from the Colonial era to the 20th century. Additional gallery space will be dedicated to regional art and artists including Native American art as well as touring collections drawn from national art institutions. Sculpture will also figure prominently in the permanent collection, on view in interior galleries and outdoor sculpture gardens. A dynamic temporary exhibitions program will complement the holdings of the permanent collection.

Artists rendering of Crystal Bridges Museum. Set to open in 2011

The total museum building will be about 100,000 square feet and include a museum store and fine dining facilities. To make this dream come true Moshe Safde was hired. Safdie's credits include the United States Institute of Peace Headquarters on the Mall in Washington, D.C.; the Skirball Museum and Cultural center in Los Angeles; Exploration Place in Wichita, Kansas; Eleanor Roosevelt College at the University of California in San Diego; and the Kansas City Performing Arts Center.

The site selected is a ravine fed by Crystal Spring, steeply sloping with mature trees. Two structures, which are both dams and bridges, will be placed across the ravine forming two great ponds. Additional structures will be nestled into the steeply sloping terrain on either side, containing galleries, classrooms, a library, a lecture hall, curatorial and administrative offices. The bridge structures will contain galleries in the northern bridge and reception and hospitality facilities in the southern one. Further south within the pond, on axis with the bridges, will be a Great Hall, a multipurpose public space. Thus the name Crystal Bridges.

The art will come from Alice Walton's private collection as well as that of the Walton Family. Other pieces will be borrowed, purchased or bought from other collections from around the world.  The permanent collection already includes Hudson River School masterwork Kindred Spirits by Asher B. Durand; Charles Willson Peale's 18th century painting of George Washington; Gilbert Stuart's George Washington (The Constable-Hamilton Portrait); Portrait of Professor Benjamin H. Rand by Thomas Eakins; Spring, by Winslow Homer; Martin Johnson Heade's Cattleya Orchid, Two Hummingbirds and a Beetle; and Marsden Hartley's Hall of the Mountain King.

Martin Johnson Heade-Cattleya Orchid, Two Hummingbirds and a Beetle already part of the permanent collection at Crystal Bridges

It would be quite a bonus to have a significant portion of that Stieglitz collection on display.

Crystal Bridges - with the blessing of Alice Walton - offered the cash strapped Fisk $30 million for a 50 percent stake in the collection. In addition Crystal Bridges would fund $1 million to renovate the Carl Van Vechten Gallery. The Stieglitz collection would spend 6 months in Bentonville and 6 months in Nashville. This was a win-win scenario for everyone but the O'Keefe Museum, which had offered $7.5 million for O'Keefeís Radiator Building and another painting.

In early 2007 a year long court fight began.

Attorneys for the O'Keefe Museum first partitioned to block the sale to Crystal Bridges claiming their $7 million offer was made first. It was universally agreed that their offer was millions less than just the Radiator Paining alone was worth.  In April, Tennessee's attorney general, Robert E. Cooper Jr., agreed giving Fisk a chance to get market value for the collection.

It looked as though Crystal Bridges would get the collection until October 2007 when the OíKeefe Museum launched another challenge: museum's lawyers said the Walton deal would violate the artist's condition that the collection not be sold. They argued that Ms. O'Keeffe, as Mr. Stieglitz's wife, had never meant for Fisk to sell the works.

In February 2008, a judge rejected on Friday its proposal to raise the $30 million by sharing it Stieglitz Collection of with the Crystal Bridges; a serious blow to Fisk.

After that resounding victory, the O'Keefe Museum motioned that Fisk turn over the entire collection to the O'Keefe Museum because they did not have the funds to maintain the collection and might try to sell the collection by other means.  A trial was set for late February 2008 for the fate of the collection.

The O'Keefe felt confident when it cited the history of Crystal Bridges recent acquisitions. In 2005 Alice Walton bought Kindred Spirits, an 1849 Hudson River School painting, by Asher B. Durand, from the New York Public Library for an estimated $35 million. She also tried but failed to buy The Gross Clinic, a painting by Thomas Eakins, from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.  Crystal bridges seemed to be targeting financially ailing institutions.

On March 7, 2008 Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle of the Davidson County (TN) Courts ruled Fisk should not lose the works to O'Keefe museum. However, she permanently banned the sale of the 101-piece OíKeefe collection, but also ruled that Fisk must take the artworks out of storage and display them by October of 2008 - which they did.

A portion of the Alfred Stieglitz collection on display at the renovated Carl Van Vechten Gallery at Fisk University (Photo: Geoff Burton)

Today, the Alfred Stieglitz collection sits in a newly renovated Van Vechten Gallery in the completely renovated original building Georgia O'Keefe chose. It maintains regular hours and is managed curator Dr. Victor Simmons (along with the rest of Fiskís vast collection).

Although Crystal Bridges is two years from completion, gallery space and special exhibitions are maintained at Bentonville's Massey Building.  For Black History Month (February 2009) Fisk provided a popular exhibit titled Proof Positive: Master Prints from the Collection of Fisk University Galleries. The exhibit featured about 40 prints from the schools non-Stieglitz collection.  The exhibit was a resounding success. It is currently exhibiting Through the Needles Eye: Embroiderer's Guild of America 19^th National Exhibition through August 2009.

Crystal Bridges at the Massey. The Massey has a colorful history. During the Civil War, as the Eagle Hotel, it housed Union soldiers just prior to the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862. (Photo: Geoff Burton)

The O'Keefe Museum exhibited Georgia O'Keefe and the Camera: The Art of Identity in late 2008 - early 2009. It featured photographs of O'Keefe taken by Stieglitz and other photographers including Ansel Adams, Balthazar Korab, George Daniell, John Loengard, Arnold Newman, Laura Gilpin, Irving Penn, Eliot Porter, Andy Warhol, and Todd Webb.  The exhibit was a resounding success. Currently (through September 2009) the museum is exhibiting a selection of seldom seen O'Keefe works inspired by her international travels.  More importantly the O'Keefe re-established itself as the guardian of everything O'Keefe... including her image and intentions.  

Take the Journey:

Carl Van Vechten Art Gallery, Fisk University, Nashville Tennessee

Frist Center for the Visual Arts, 919 Broadway, Nashville, TN, 37203-3822 615.244.3340

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, 217 Johnson Street, Santa Fe, NM. 505.946.1000

Crystal Bridges at the Massey, 125 W Central Avenue, Bentonville, AR

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