BLACK CROSS, NEW MEXICO
by Georgia O'Keeffe
Oil on canvas, 1929; 99.2 x 76.3 cm

The pioneers of American abstraction responded to modern European movements in individual ways. Georgia O'Keeffe approached her subjects, whether buildings or flowers, landscapes or bones, by intuitively magnifying their shapes and simplifying their details to underscore their essential beauty. Black Cross, New Mexicowas painted during a summer visit to that state, where O'Keeffe eventually settled. The large, dark cross seems to stand watch over the rolling hills at sunset, proclaiming man's presence in this stark landscape.