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Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: Access O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe
Two White Shells One Black Shell, 1937
Image courtesy of a scanned transparency made for Georgia O'Keeffe: Catalogue Raisonné. This image has not been color proofed and may differ from the original. It will be replaced when newer photography becomes available.
Image: okeeffe_CR919_two-white-shells-one-black-shell_794768.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe
Two White Shells One Black Shell, 1937
Oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches
CR No. 919
Oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches
Collection:Private Collection
CR No. 919

Vertical compositions of two large white conical shells with large black conical shell between them.

CR No. 919

Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Two White Shells One Black Shell

Source of title: stretcher inscription.

Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)

Three Shells

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

Shell I

Shells

General Remarks

Whitney Archive indicates, "Miss O'Keeffe says painted 1937. See gallery photograph." Abiquiú Notebooks after 1977 indicates, "Sold by Halpert . . . May, 1959." Pictured in 1937–38 New York (An American Place) Stieglitz installation photograph, see Appendix III, figure 68. (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Inscriptions

Stretcher: "Two White Shells One Black Shell 1937" (graphite). Verso: inaccessible. Backing: 1. OK {5star} (graphite) 2. "New York – N.Y." (Art Institute of Chicago label, black ink) 3. Label: handwritten, "An American Place' / 509 Madison Avenue / New York — N.Y. / Georgia O'Keeffe" 4. "Three Shells" (Andrew Droth, graphite) 5. 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

(The Downtown Gallery, New York, NY); Private collection, Naples, Florida, 1959; (Harold Diamond, New York, NY); (Doris Bry, New York, NY); Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, 1978; Elaine Horwitch Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona, 1981; (Andrew Crispo Gallery, Inc., New York, NY); Sovereign American Arts Corporation, New York, NY, 1983; S. R. Koman, Inc., Winchester, Virginia, 1983; Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1987 (Source: Lynes, 1999)

Credits & Rights

© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Administrative Information

Version History

Core fields last updated 10/29/2026

Source System ID

8887

Other IDs

919, Catalogue Raisonné

Conservation

Information is from the most recently submitted report, please contact the current owner to verify updated details.
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

"Sprayed with a solution of N-Butyl isobutyl Methacrylate Copolymer resin as a final protective surface coating July 3 1955" (blue-bordered typed label; date, black ink).