No one knows exactly where famed textile designer Alexander Girard, who moved to Santa Fe with his wife, Susan, in 1953, first met Georgia O’Keeffe, the area’s most famous resident. Then as now, Santa Fe was a creative hotbed that attracted artists from many disciplines. It’s possible Girard and O’Keeffe crossed paths at the Compound, a well-known retreat for artists and actors in the 1930s and 40s, which he redesigned to great acclaim in 1966.
In any case, the trio formed a friendship that lasted until O’Keeffe’s death in 1986, often sharing meals, spending the night at each other’s homes, and vacationing together in folk art-rich locales like Mexico and Morocco. O’Keeffe and Girard bonded over a shared appreciation for art and culture, culminating in a respect for one another's work that led to many ideas for collaboration. O’Keeffe painted miniature watercolors for Girard’s “Italian Villa in Multiple Visions” tableau—part of Girard's Gesamtkunstwerk comprising both collection and exhibition design at Santa Fe's Museum of International Folk Art.
A notorious rockhound who displayed her favorites around her home in Abiquiú, O’Keeffe is also credited as a contributor for curating rocks to Girard’s exhibition "The Magic of a People," part of HemisFair 1968 at the World's Fair in San Antonio. “I’m very happy to know that you’ll be coming to the opening,” Girard says in one of his many handwritten notes to O’Keeffe. “I think you’ll be pleased with the rocks.”
Girard informally worked with O’Keeffe on the interiors and furnishings of her now-iconic Abiquiú home, bringing in midcentury modern designers, including Girard’s great friends and collaborators, Charles and Ray Eames. O’Keeffe appreciated the Eameses’ innovative and sensible designs, which matched O’Keeffe’s own aesthetic sensibilities.
“She had a sustained interest in furniture that was functional and attractive,” says Bonnie Steward, Assistant Librarian at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. “She was very practical and wanted things that would last.” She owned several Eames designs, including the Eames LCW, and she was pleased when they gave her a prototype of one of their chair designs—so much so that she asked for (and received) a second. Girard also gave O’Keeffe some of his spirited textile designs, which she made into pillows. Both enjoyed experimenting with color, pattern, and texture in their work and in their homes.
“Their friendship was definitely beneficial for both of them personally and artistically,” says Giustina Renzoni, Director of Historic Properties at Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. “They clearly inspired each other.”
Photographer unrecorded. Georgia O’Keeffe with Alexander Girard and Susan Girard at Nacimiento exhibition, 1961. Alexander Girard Collection. AR.00019, Box 30, Folder 4. Bartlett Library and Archives, Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM.
Georgia O’Keeffe (R) “rock fishing” with Ray Eames in New Mexico. Photograph by Charles Eames, 1953. © Eames Office, LLC. All rights reserved.