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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
No. 9 Special, 1915
Courtesy of The Menil Collection.
Image: okeeffe_CR54_no-9-special_858955.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
No. 9 Special, 1915
Charcoal on paper, 24 3/4 x 19 inches
CR No. 54
The Menil Collection, Houston
Charcoal on paper, 24 3/4 x 19 inches
The Menil Collection, Houston
CR No. 54

Several undulating black lines run diagonally from the bottom left to the center-right edge of the composition. Running parallel to these lines is a strip of dark gray punctuated by small black rectangles. Light gray, billowing forms dominate the upper half of the composition, punctuated by soft, darker gray shapes that resemble drops of water.

CR No. 54

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

No. 9 Special

Source of title: Abiquiú Notebooks indicates lost inscription on original backing, 'Back: 'No. 9 Special.' star.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Special #9

Source of title: Downtown Gallery Archive.

Special No. 9

Source of title: Abiquiú Notebooks. (Used by the Menil Collection.)

General Remarks

Back: A.S.: '1915–1916.' Shown: Photo Sucession Gallery, 1915 1916? {'1915' crossed out} . . .Note: Date of painting in doubt. 'Not recorded Whitney Archive. O'Keeffe wrote: 'Drawing No. 9 is the drawing of a headache. It was a very bad headache at the time that I was busy drawing every night, sitting on the floor in front of the closet door'(Some Memories of Drawings [1988], unpaginated). Titled Special No. 9 by O'Keeffe on Abiquiú Notebooks photograph. Pictured in 1923 New York (Anderson) Stieglitz installation photograph, see Appendix III, figure 18. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Verso: "#2" (unidentified hand, graphite, probably AS) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Drawing

Materials

Charcoal on paper

Extended Medium Description

Charcoal on moderately thick, cream, slightly textured laid paper; Watermark: Blind stamp at corner, STRATHMORE with thistle
(Source: Paper Survey researched by Judith C. Walsh and published in Lynes, 1999.)

Georgia O'Keeffe, until 1985; Purchased from the above (represented by Robert Miller Gallery, New York) through Janie C. Lee Gallery, Houston by the Menil Foundation, Houston, 1985-present
(Source: The Menil Collection, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 3/30/2026

Last verified by current collection Aug 18 2025

Source System ID

8254

Other IDs

54, Catalogue Raisonné