Amon Carter print details
A watercolor painting of concentric arches in shades of blue.
A watercolor painting of concentric arches in shades of blue.

Light Coming on the Plains No. I

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)

Object Details

  • Date

    1917

  • Medium

    Watercolor on newsprint paper

  • Dimensions

    11 7/8 x 8 7/8 in.
    Mount: 12 x 9 1/8 in.

  • Credit Line

    Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

  • Accession Number

    1966.30

  • Copyright

    © Amon Carter Museum of American Art

Object Description

While teaching at West Texas State Normal College in Canyon, Texas, during the summer of 1917, O’Keeffe created these abstract impressions of the sun rising over the wide-open Texas plains. The works reflect her bold individuality at a time when women artists struggled to attain recognition, considered unequal to their male counterparts. O’Keeffe stayed up all night to experience dawn when the effects of light were the most transitory and ephemeral. In these watercolors, she spontaneously layered deep ultramarine pigment on paper, allowing the fluidity of the medium to form the final design.

Additional details

Location: Off view
W28-artist-CMYK-CarterBlack
See more by Georgia O'Keeffe

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