The Landscape of Georgia O'Keefe
A Visit to Ghost Ranch
September 30, 2017
Today's activities took us to Abiqui and to Ghost Ranch. We were treated to a short video giving a bit of the history of Ghost Ranch, which I found rather fascinating The ranch encompasses about 21,000 acres and some of the most amazing scenery that I have ever seen.
Obviously, the first inhabitants were the pueblo Indians, followed by the Spaniards and then the Mexicans. The Gallegos family were Spaniards who were the first "owners" of the land now called Ghost Ranch. In the early 1800s their ranch was named Arroyo Seco Ranch. They survived with water from the Rito del Yeso, which really had just a small trickle of water year round.
The origins of Ghost Ranch as we know it today began in about 1931 when Caroline Bishop Stanley, recently divorced from her alcoholic husband, Roy Pfaffle, moved, with her Steinway piano and her Navajo rug collection to a run-down homestead outside of Abiquiu. Her husband, Roy, had won the property a few years earlier in a card game, and Caroline had the good sense to get the deed recorded in her name. Carol had been born and raised in Boston to a wealthy, prominent family. Her rebellious streak took her to Santa Fe in 1914, and she never returned.
Caroline set to work renovating Ghost Ranch and running it as a "dude ranch." In 1934, Georgia O'Keefe arrived looking for a casita to rent for the summer. Caroline had only one room left, and Ms O'Keefe took it. Shortly thereafter another family left their casita and O'Keefe moved in and "never left."
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| Photo Credit: From http://boston1905.blogspot.com/2008/07/caroline-bishop-stanley.html |
Caroline sold Ghost Ranch to one of her regular visitors, Arthur Newton Pack, in 1935. Mr. Pack was the co-founder of the American Nature Association. Our Landscape Tour Guide, Betty, told us many stories about O'Keefe's relationship with the Pack family. O'Keefe eventually convinced the Packs to sell her a house and seven acres of land on Ghost Ranch.
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| Photo Credit: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/okeefe-article-032002 |
O'Keefe loved this Ghost Ranch home, declaring, "As soon as I saw it, I knew I must have it. Even before the Packs sold it to her, she considered it "hers." She returned one summer and found another family living there and asked what they were doing in "her" house!
I loved reading her descriptions like the one she wrote to the painter Arthur Dove in 1942, "I wish you could see what I see out the window -- the earth pink and yellow cliffs to the north -- the full pale moon about to go down in an early morning lavender sky ... pink and purple hills in front and the scrubby fine dull green cedars -- and a feeling of much space -- It is a very beautiful world"
I think part of the reason I love this description is that she struggles to describe the stark beauty of the place - just as I struggle.
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We arrived this morning in plenty of time for our Landscape Tour. Essentially, a small group of folks (about 10 of us as I recall) board a small van and go out into the landscape, stopping a various points along the way while our docent would show us O'Keefe's work and point out the parts of the landscape that they believe were the inspiration for each of her paintings. It's a rather remarkable tour, and I think even the guys in our group enjoyed it!
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| This was the first house O'Keefe stayed in. She described it as a house with one room "with a ghost in it." |
The cool thing about this little casita is that people can actually stay there!
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| Here is our docent, Betty, showing "The Cliff Chimneys," a 1938 painting by O'Keefe. |
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| Here is Betty holding up the painting, "Hills and Mesa to the West" 1945 |
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| And here is my meager photo of that same landscape on a very cloudy day! |
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| Here's Betty holding "Pedernal" 1941 (top) and "Pedernal" 1945 (bottom) |
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| Pedernal was hiding in the clouds, but here is one picture I took. |
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| And here is a second picture I took. |
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| Betty holding "My Back Yard" 1937 |
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| And here is my photo |
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| Here's Betty holding up "Gerald's Tree" 1937 |
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| And here is my photo of Gerald's Tree! |
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| Rare shadows on this cloudy, rainy day -- |
We were fortunate that there was no rain -- just many clouds, making for a very dramatic landscape. As we finished up our 90 minute tour, I had a true sense of who Georgia O'Keefe was. She was quite a character, who loved Ghost Ranch and also loved her home in Abiqui, where she kept an organic garden and prepared wholesome foods for herself and any guests she might invite.
I am left intrigued and wanting to learn more about this woman ... Isn't that part of what traveling is all about?
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