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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Slightly Open Clam Shell, 1926
Courtesy of Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
Image: okeeffe_CR537_slightly-open-clam-shell_869999.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Slightly Open Clam Shell, 1926
Pastel on cardboard, 18 1/2 x 13 inches
CR No. 537
Pastel on cardboard, 18 1/2 x 13 inches
Collection:The Wadsworth
CR No. 537

An open clamshell, seen from above, runs the length of this narrow composition. The point where the two white shells join is painted black, and the interior grooves of the shell are just visible. The shell sits on a plain white background.

CR No. 537

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Slightly Open Clam Shell

Source of title: backing inscription 1.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

The Seashell

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

Slightly Open Shell

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

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Exam. at Amer. Place. March 1946. . . . No signature" [notes Intimate Gallery label from backing inscription 3]. Abiquiú Notebooks after 1977 indicates, "Sold by Halpert, Oct. 1958." Reproduced and titled Slightly Open Shell in America & Alfred Stieglitz (1934). (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Verso: "#27" (Alfred Stieglitz, graphite). Backing: 1. "Slightly Open Clam Shell – 26" (graphite) 2. OK {5star} (graphite) 3. Label: printed, The Intimate Gallery (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Pastel

Materials

Pastel on cardboard

Extended Medium Description

Pastel on white ground on very thick grey cardboard
(Source: Paper Survey researched by Judith C. Walsh and published in Lynes, 1999.)

(The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY); Private collection, New York, NY, 1958; Descended in family; Christie's, New York, NY, sale no. 8790, lot no. 87, 4 December 1997 (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 5/20/2026

Source System ID

8609

Other IDs

537, Catalogue Raisonné