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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Red Pears, Green Background, 1923
Courtesy of Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.
Image: okeeffe_CR443_red-pears-green-background_869304.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Red Pears, Green Background, 1923
Oil on board, 12 1/8 x 9 1/8 inches
CR No. 443
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Gift of an anonymous donor, 2015.7
Oil on board, 12 1/8 x 9 1/8 inches
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Gift of an anonymous donor, 2015.7
CR No. 443

Two shining, bright red pears and a deep purple fig sit on a piece of dark blue fabric or paper. On the upper right and lower left corners of the composition are flashes of bright white visible behind the blue material.

CR No. 443

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Red Pears, Green Background

Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Red Pears Green Background

Alternate Title

Still Life: Red Pears and Fig

Source of title: Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.

General Remarks

Whitney Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks indicate, "Exam. at Amer. Place, March 1946. . . . No signature. [Note of 22 in backing inscription 2 and title in backing inscription 3.] Two red pears with fig." Abiquiú Notebooks notes inscription 1. Backing inscription 2 dates 1922? Whitney Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks date c. 1923. Downtown Gallery Archive dates 1923. Pictured in 1924 New York (Anderson) Stieglitz installation photograph, see Appendix III, figure 26. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Lynes publication lists medium as 'Oil on board', the Cantor refines the medium description with 'Oil on composition board'. (Source: Information provided for Access O'Keeffe by the Cantor Center, 2025)

Inscriptions

Verso: inaccessible. Backing: 1. OK {circle} (graphite) 2. "22?" (graphite) 3. "Red Pears / Green Background / Georgia O'Keeffe" (Andrew Droth, graphite) (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on board

Collection of the artist; Doris Bry; John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco; Deborah and Joseph Goldyne; Private collection, San Francisco, CA; given to the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, 2015.
(Source: Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 3/30/2026

Last verified by current collection Sep 08 2025

Source System ID

8532

Other IDs

443, 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 Cantor Center in 2025. This report contains information from reports done in 2012 (Manganelli) and 2024 (O'Regan).

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

The medium is oil on composition board.

CONDITION NARRATIVE

Under magnification, the paint appears secure and compressed. There are several minor scuffs and abrasions throughout the surface, tiny white accretions, and a slight dust layer. Overall, the painting remains in very good to excellent condition. It appears unvarnished.

In 2012, the work was removed from its frame and cleaned. In-painting of abraded areas of paint with watercolors and/or gum Arabic to achieve appropriate gloss.

In 2024, Qor Colors, and stable pigments in Aquazol were used to tone a 1/2 in thin horizontal scratch in the center of the composition.

Conservators: Susan Roberts Manganelli (2012), Trish O’Regan (2024)

REPORT NOTES

Published with corresponding artwork entry in Georgia O’Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné (Lynes, 1999), this historical conservation information documents treatment decisions made during the artist’s lifetime. Lynes quotes information found on backing labels, and, when noted, from other sources.

CONDITION NARRATIVE

"This painting has been varnished" (Doris Bry typed label).