A collection of previously unknown letters in which the beloved artist offers fresh insight into her life, work, and burgeoning love for New Mexico.

In 2004, a cache of letters written by O’Keeffe to filmmaker Henwar Rodakiewicz was discovered hidden in a closet in Santa Fe. The letters are now in the archives at the Library of Congress. This volume presents a selection of these never-published letters written between 1929 and 1947 to Rodakiewicz who was a close friend of both O’Keeffe and her husband, Alfred Stieglitz.  

These remarkably candid and highly personal letters reveal a tender, vulnerable side of the artist who articulated her affection for the recipient in lyrical language shaped by poetry. In one letter she wrote: “I told the aspens about you and they said they knew.” She writes through travels in this country and beyond and through periods of illness and recovery, describing her inspiration for paintings, the realities of exhibiting and selling her work, and the conditions in which she lived.  

This selection of letters in O’Keeffe’s expressive handwriting are featured alongside their transcriptions. Photographs, artworks, and archival materials trace the people, places, and works referenced in the correspondence, forming a rich palimpsest of nearly twenty years in the artist’s life.

About The Author

Susan Todd is a writer and artist who discovered the letters in this book and brought them to light. Barbara Bair is a historian and curator of collections in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Barbara Buhler Lynes is an art historian, curator, and scholar on the life and art of Georgia O’Keeffe. She is the author of numerous books about the artist.