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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Closed Clam Shell, 1926
Courtesy of Dallas Museum of Art.
Image: okeeffe_CR539_closed-clam-shell_863442.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Closed Clam Shell, 1926
Oil on canvas, 20 1/8 x 9 1/8 inches
CR No. 539
Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., bequest of Mrs. Eugene McDermott
Oil on canvas, 20 1/8 x 9 1/8 inches
Dallas Museum of Art, The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., bequest of Mrs. Eugene McDermott
CR No. 539

An enlarged white clamshell, seen on its side, stretches from the bottom to the top of this narrow composition. The shell is closed, and its rippling form is almost entirely white save for a few small patches of yellow. The shell sits against a plain white background.

CR No. 539

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Closed Clam Shell

Source of title: backing inscription 1, Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

The Seashell

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Exam. at Amer. Place, March 1946. . . . No signature" [notes backing inscription 3]. Abiquiú Notebooks notes inscriptions 1–3. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Stretcher: inaccessible. Verso: inaccessible. Backing: 1. "Closed Clam Shell" (graphite) 2. OK {5star} (graphite) 3. Label: handwritten, "An American Place' / 509 Madison Avenue / New York — N.Y. / Georgia O'Keeffe" 4. "New York – City" (Art Institute of Chicago label, black ink) 5. Label: printed, The Intimate Gallery 6. Stamp: "Georgia O'Keeffe / An American Place / Room 1710— 509 Madison Ave. / New York — N.Y." (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Technique

Oil Painting

Materials

Oil on canvas

1926 until about early May 1967: The artist, Abiquiu, New Mexico
Early May 1967 – 2018: Eugene (1899–1973) and Margaret (Milam) McDermott (1912-2018), Dallas, TX. [1]
2018: By bequest to The Eugene and Margaret McDermott Art Fund, Inc., 2018.

Note:
[1] Painting Purchased as a pair from the artist in in early May 1967 in Abiquiu, New Mexico, with the assistance of Doris Bry (1920–2014), New York
(Source: Dallas Museum of Art, 2025)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 5/5/2026

Last verified by current collection Oct 06 2025

Source System ID

8611

Other IDs

539, Catalogue Raisonné