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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Brooklyn Bridge, 1949
Courtesy of Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Image: okeeffe_CR1170_brooklyn-bridge_863518.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Brooklyn Bridge, 1949
Charcoal on brown paper, 62 7/8 x 36 inches
CR No. 1170
Gift of Doris Bry
Charcoal on brown paper, 62 7/8 x 36 inches
Gift of Doris Bry
CR No. 1170

The pointed arches of the Brooklyn Bridge rise through the center of this minimalist sketch. A second set of arches appears in the distance.

CR No. 1170

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Brooklyn Bridge

Source of title: Recto inscription.

Alternate Title

Preparatory Study for Brooklyn Bridge

Source of title: Brooklyn Museum.

General Remarks

Not recorded Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Recto: "Brooklyn Bridge 49 — Not very good" (graphite) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Drawing

Materials

Charcoal on brown paper

Doris Bry, New York, N.Y., 1978, Brooklyn Museum (The), 1998; provenance likely incomplete (Source: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 8/26/2026

Last verified by current collection 2025

Source System ID

10181

Other IDs

1170, Catalogue Raisonné

Conservation

Information is from the most recently submitted report, please contact the current owner to verify updated details.
REPORT NOTES

Information provided for Access O'Keeffe by Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2025.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

Good

CONDITION NARRATIVE

The object is in good and stable condition. The object is a preparatory sketch for the painting Brooklyn Bridge (77.11), also in the museum's collection. Horizontal creases near the upper edge of the sheet may have been created when the sheet was attached to a drawing board or possibly the painting's masonite panel as a means to transfer the friable drawing media to the primed panel. A myriad of creases down the center vertical axis of the sheet may have been created by the artist if she folded the paper in half lengthwise, to transfer the design from one half of hte sheet to the other, for symmetry. Another possible theory is that the creases were created due to repetative folding the sheet to transfer the composition to the primed masonite panel. Horizontal creases throughout the sheet may have been created when the drawing was rolled in storage or may also be related to the artist's process. Two small punctures near each of the upper corners suggest the drawing was pinned to a surface. There are six strips of Japanese paper on the verso from a previous hinging campaign: two along the upper edge of the sheet, near the corners; two along the left edge; and two along the right edge. Abrasions and residual adhesive in two areas just above the center of the verso appear to have been created by tape, now removed.