Georgia O'Keeffe: Paintings of Hawaii

During the summer of 1938, N. W. Ayer & Son, one of the nation's oldest and most successful advertising firms, approached O'Keefe with a proposal from the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Ltd. (shortly thereafter to become Dole Company). The firm invited O'Keeffe to the islands as its guest and, in exchange, requested two paintings of unspecified subject for use in a national magazine advertising campaign. O'Keefe remained in Hawai'I for two months, spending the first four weeks on O'ahu. Local newspapers noted the arrival this "famous painter of flowers" and recorded that she was visiting the islands at the invitation of Dole. She spent time on O'ahu, Maui, and Hawai'i. O'Keefe saw the pineapple fields "all sharp and silvery stretching for miles off to the beautiful irregular mountains....I was astonished - it was so beautiful". The practice of joining fine art to advertising, of creating art for commercial purposes, ha been both applauded and condemned, but O'Keefe's attitudes regarding corporate commissions underwent a change during the 1930's. The two paintings she produced for Dole were 'Pineapple Bud' and 'Heliconia - Crabs Claw Ginger' which appeared in magazines including "Vogue' and 'The Saturday Evening Post'. O'Keefe however did produce many paintings from this trip to Hawai'I and these are all included in this book.