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Oil on canvas, 16 x 30 inches
CR No. 1040
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Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, 1981
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Two large, black hills with alternating black and tan strata loom over the composition. Smaller pink hills covered in crags flank the two larger formations. Two large, bright green sprigs of juniper and cedar hover at the bottom center of the canvas.
CR No. 1040
Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)
Black Hills with Cedar
Source of title: Whitney Archive, Downtown Gallery Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks.
Alternate Title (1999 Catalogue Raisonné)
Black Hills & Cedar, New Mexico
Source of title: Downtown Gallery label.
The Black Place – No. 3
Source of title: Downtown Gallery label.
Black Hills and Cedar
Source of title: Downtown Gallery label.
General Remarks
Whitney Archive, Abiquiú Notebooks indicate, "Painted in New York in 1942. . . Exam. at Amer. Place, March 1946 [note of backing inscriptions 1, 2]. Note: Miss O'Keeffe says this was painted in . . . New York in Jan. 1942." Backing inscriptions date 1941. Painted in New York and dated 1942 on basis of O'Keeffe letter: "I painted that blank canvas you sent me with a few vague lines on it—it is one of the best—a little bunch of the green and blue cedar you sent me down in the front of it—The black place back of it" (O'Keeffe to Maria Chabot, January 1942). Reproduced in American Artist (June 1943). (Source: Lynes, 1999)
Lynes date as 1942, Hirshhorn dates as 1941. (Source: Information provided for Access O'Keeffe by Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2026)
Inscriptions
Stretcher: inaccessible. Verso: inaccessible. Backing: 1. "Black Hills & Cedar, New Mexico – 1941 / by Georgia O'Keeffe" (Andrew Droth, Label: handwritten, "An American Place' / 509 Madison Ave —Room 1710 / (S.E. corner 53rd St) — New York", black ink) 2. "Georgia O'Keeffe / 59 East 54th City – New York / 'Black Hills & Cedar, New Mexico' – 1941 / An American Place, 509 Madison Ave. / New York, City (Room 1710)" (Alfred Stieglitz, Whitney Museum of American Art label, black ink) (Source: Lynes, 1999)
Signed and dated on label on backing in pen and ink: ...1941/By Georgia O' Keeffe Inscribed on label on backing in pen and ink: " An American Place"/ 509 Madison Ave- Room 1710/ (S.E. corner 53rd St.)- New York/ Black Hills & Cedar, New Mexico- (Source: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2026)
Technique
Oil Painting
Materials
Oil on canvas
1998–1999
2008–2009
Smithsonian American Art Museum (as Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities)
Norton Museum of Art (as Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities)
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (as Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities)
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) (as Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams: Natural Affinities)
2016–2017
Tate Modern (as Georgia O'Keeffe)
Kunstforum Wien (as Georgia O'Keeffe)
Art Gallery of Ontario (as Georgia O'Keeffe)
2004–2005
Boise Art Museum (as Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime)
Hunter Museum of American Art (as Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime)
Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art (as Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime)
Fresno Metropolitan Museum (as Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime)
University of Michigan, Museum of Art (as Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime)
2003–2004
2021–2022
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (as Georgia O'Keeffe: The Painter's Lens)
Centre Georges Pompidou (as Georgia O'Keeffe: The Painter's Lens)
Fondation Beyeler (as Georgia O'Keeffe: The Painter's Lens)
Downtown Gallery, New York
Forum Gallery, New York, to 16 May 1974
Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York and Washington, DC, 16 May 1974-31 August 1981
Estate of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1981-1986
Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, 1981
(Source: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2026)
© Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
Version History
Core fields last updated 4/22/2026
Last verified by current collection Mar 02 2026
Source System ID
8961
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Conservation
Information is from the most recently submitted report, please contact the current owner to verify updated details.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.
"Surface Coating B67 acryloid in benzine. Applied by Felrath Hines April 1970" (typed label).
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Georgia O'Keeffe. Black Hills with Cedar, 1942. Access O’Keeffe, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, https://access-ok.okeeffemuseum.org/object/8961.