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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Pedernal, 1945
Courtesy of Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. Photo: Tim Nighswander/IMAGING4ART
Image: okeeffe_CR1117_pedernal_786566.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Pedernal, 1945
Pastel on paper, 21 1/2 x 43 1/4 inches
CR No. 1117
Gift of The Burnett Foundation
1997.6.8
Pastel on paper, 21 1/2 x 43 1/4 inches
Gift of The Burnett Foundation
1997.6.8
CR No. 1117

Large horizontal pastel with silhouette of mountains in blue along the bottom. Sky above is large reddish U shape with the negative space of a half oval filled with blue covering a large portion of the sky.

CR No. 1117

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Pedernal

Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks, 1946 New York (An American Place) exhibition checklist.

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Exam. at Amer. Place, March 1946....No signature." (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Pastel

Materials

Pastel on paper

Estate of the artist, 1986; Private collection, 1987; The Burnett Foundation, Fort Worth, Tex., 1997 (Source: Georgia O'Keeffe Museum)

Credits & Rights

© Private Collection*

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 3/30/2026

Source System ID

122

Other IDs

1117, Catalogue Raisonné

Conservation

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

Support: The support is a moderately thick, cream-colored, moderately textured paper.

Design Layers: The pastels are applied lightly, in single layers, generally in parallel, diagonal broad applications with minimal blending. The pastel has been applied with pressure to help ensure a strong, mechanical adhesion to the textured paper surface. Blues are stable ultramarine and relatively stable cobalt-Prussian blue. Whites are stable zinc oxide, and reds are stable lead minum. The pastels have moderate light sensitivity.

Surface Coating: The pastel is not fixed or coated.

Framing, Backing, and Hanging Hardware: The frame is a 2009 reproduction Georgia O'Keeffe/George Of-designed "clam shell" profile, metal leaf, micro-chamber, gasketed wood frame with reinforced secondary frame backing, pre-conditioned silica-gel polypropylene felt RH buffer, and activated charcoal-zeolite corrugated board VOC scavenger. The work is glazed with non-reflective, conductive Optium acrylic glazing.

CONDITION NARRATIVE

The pastel is complete, and the media is generally secure when handled and traveled flat. Some transferred pastel media is scattered in aggregated areas. These tend to be large grains that are slightly embedded and relatively secure on the surface. The artist frequently applies the pastel media superficially across background regions, leaving low-relief areas of the support paper visible. These should not be confused with pinpoint losses. There are white chalk underdrawing and compositional sketch lines visible within the central blue background region. These were left intentionally by the artist in the finished work.