This New England

Arthur Dove, "Sunrise,'' 1924. Oil on panel, 18 1/4 x 20 7/8 in. (46.4 x 53 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum. Gift of Mrs. Edward R. Wehr [Milwaukee Art Museum (photo by John R. Glembin); Courtesy of and copyright The Estate of Arthur Dove / Courtesy Terry Dintenfass, Inc.]

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Notes from the Clark on this terrific show:

The life and work of Georgia O'Keeffe have fascinated critics, scholars and art lovers alike since she burst onto the New York art scene in the early 1900s. On June 7, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute adds a chapter to this story with the first exhibition to explore the role of the influential American modernist painter Arthur Dove as the key figure in O'Keeffe's development of abstraction as a means of artistic expression.

''Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence'' will feature 60 major oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, and pastels spanning 1910 to the early 1940s. Among the seminal works on view will be O'Keeffe's ''Dark Abstraction'' (1924) and ''Jack-in-The Pulpit No. VI'' (1930) --- see below --, and Dove's "Moon'' (1935) and ''Fog Horns'' (1929).

The Clark is the exclusive venue for this exhibition, which will be on view through Sept. 7, 2009. The exhibition is organized by the Clark and is curated by Debra Bricker Balken, an independent curator specializing in American modernism and contemporary art who organized a Dove retrospective in 1997.

Balken will explore how Dove and O'Keeffe shaped each other's work and ideas about modern art within the avant-garde culture of early-twentieth-century New York in her opening lecture "Dove, O'Keeffe, and the Critics" at 3 pm on Sunday, June 7. Admission to the lecture is free. For more information, visit www.clarkart.edu. The Clark is at 225 South St., in Williamstown, Mass.

Georgia O'Keeffe, "Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. VI,'' 1930. Oil on canvas, 36 x
18 in. (91.4 x 45.7 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe [Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.]

 Tags  Arthur Dove Clark Art Institute Georgia O'Keeffe

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