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Pastel on cardboard, 18 1/2 x 13 inches
CR No. 537
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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.)
1999–2000
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (as Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things)
Dallas Museum of Art (as Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things)
The Phillips Collection (as Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things)
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (as Georgia O'Keeffe: The Poetry of Things)
1987–1989
National Gallery of Art (NGA) (as Georgia O'Keeffe)
Art Institute of Chicago (as Georgia O'Keeffe)
Dallas Museum of Art (as Georgia O'Keeffe)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) (as Georgia O'Keeffe)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (as Georgia O'Keeffe)
2024–2025
Art Institute of Chicago (as Georgia O'Keeffe: "My New Yorks")
High Museum of Art (as Georgia O'Keeffe: "My New Yorks")
(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)
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Version History
Core fields last updated 5/20/2026
Last verified by current collection
Source System ID
8609
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Georgia O'Keeffe. Slightly Open Clam Shell, 1926. Access O’Keeffe, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, https://access-ok.okeeffemuseum.org/object/8609.