Join me at historic Fuller Lodge for a special event from Los Alamos Public Library!

In the early 1960s, American artist Georgia O’Keeffe commissioned a local builder to construct a fallout shelter at her Abiquiú property in northern New Mexico. Was it Cold War paranoia or artistic eccentricity that drove O’Keeffe to spend the equivalent of over $10,000 in today’s money to build this cinderblock bunker in the hill beneath her studio? Oral tradition in Abiquiú holds that O’Keeffe wanted to survive in order to paint the post-apocalyptic landscape in the wake of nuclear war. This talk complicates the myth and rumors surrounding O’Keeffe’s shelter by exploring the context of Cold War northern New Mexico more broadly. Far from the unapproachable hermit she is sometimes depicted as, O’Keeffe was deeply connected to and fascinated by the wider world of science and politics. During the 1960s, O’Keeffe followed developments at nearby Los Alamos National Laboratory closely and forged friendships with several scientists working there. While acknowledging the positive potentials of atomic science, O’Keeffe worried about nuclear proliferation and more immediately, possible accidents at the nearby laboratory. While the artist’s interest in environmental causes is well known, her keen understanding of particle physics and the scientific advancements at Los Alamos adds a new layer to how we understand her late career work.

Join us and learn more about Cold War Los Alamos and its creative impacts on the postwar painting of Georgia O’Keeffe!