Talk:Sky Above Clouds

Fear of flying claim
I'm attempting to verify the claim by Gene D. Cohen that O'Keefe had a fear of flying and this series represents her overcoming that fear. It sounds great, but Cohen cites Lisle 1986, and I've looked through that source, and it only says she was anxious about flying once; it doesn't reflect a fear of flying. Cohen says he has referring to other biographies as well, so I will keep looking before I add him as a source. Viriditas (talk) 02:49, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I did find several other weak references to this claim, but I'm afraid Cohen was reading far too much into this. Viriditas (talk) 12:39, 1 September 2023 (UTC)
 * I was able to finally find it. It’s in O'Keeffe’s autobiography, page 201 or 202 (no page numbers).  This would have been a lot easier if Cohen had simply gave that source to begin with. Viriditas (talk) 23:23, 6 September 2023 (UTC)

Complete series?
It isn't yet clear if the complete series includes An Island with Clouds (1962) or Sky Above Clouds / Yellow Horizon and Clouds (1976-1977), but I'm leaning towards the latter. Currently, I have it structured around the former due to the dates. Viriditas (talk) 03:27, 1 September 2023 (UTC)


 * It looks like I, quite by accident, just identified the core seven paintings in the series, simply by following the sources and going where they would take me. Viriditas (talk) 02:00, 7 September 2023 (UTC)

Influence
I'm trying to verify that this painting influenced elements of the musical composition Concerto No. 2, Landscapes of the Mind I, piano, large orchestra, 1968–74, by composer Marga Richter. Architect and artist Steven Holl alludes to this in his book Anchoring (1989), and says it in turn influenced the interior design of a New York property. Apparently the carpets look like tiny clouds, which appear in a high-rise unit "floating" above the city. Viriditas (talk) 03:09, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Confirmed. It was second work in the series (II). Noted in Ammer 2001, p. 213. Viriditas (talk) 03:12, 3 September 2023 (UTC)


 * I literally took one look at Sky Above Clouds II and was so inspired by its gentle floating quality that I immediately went to the piano and wrote the opening of what became my piano concerto

It must have been quite the experience to see this for the first time in 1968. The famous image of The Blue Marble wasn't taken until 1972, so seeing something like Sky Above Clouds II in a magazine in 1968 must have been a shocker for many. I find it absolutely incredible that a simple reproduction of a painting like this could spur a major composition from a composer. I will attempt to hunt down as many reactions like this as I can, as it's a phenomenon I've written about many times before but one that I've never truly been able to explain. Viriditas (talk) 08:51, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

The Beyond
I'm convinced The Beyond (1972) is part of this series, but I'm still waiting for a source before adding it. I doubt I will find one, because from my reading of the material, O'Keeffe was going blind at this point, and nobody wants to include it; however, I think it's a great painting, and I've seen similar views from the airplane just after twilight. I'll keep looking. Viriditas (talk) 10:54, 3 September 2023 (UTC)
 * Another reason why nobody seems to have made the connection to the larger series is because many of these later works aren't well known.  However, it seems obvious to me that this work is very much a part of the series. Viriditas (talk) 02:51, 4 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Marking this resolved as I don’t think there’s a source to support my claim. Viriditas (talk) 02:02, 7 September 2023 (UTC)


 * I just found evidence to support it, particularly curator Chad Alligood of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, who were one of the museums hosting exhibition for "The Beyond: Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Art" in 2018. Viriditas (talk) 01:02, 10 January 2024 (UTC)

Private collection
In 1984, the Met published a bulletin twice emphasizing that the Sky Above Clouds series was the only (that might be different now) series of O'Keeffe’s not represented in their collection. They said they hoped to rectify that. Makes me think II or III could eventually find their way from private hands to the Met. Viriditas (talk) 00:03, 5 September 2023 (UTC)

To do

 * Influence of Asian art
 * Use of space, composition
 * Originates with Arthur Wesley Dow
 * There’s some confusion over the dates of the Whitney exhibition. It was originally planned earlier, then postponed, and when it was held, it might have gone from 1970 into 1971.
 * Hoffman (1984:50) says it was originally planned for 1969, but was delayed until Oct. 1970
 * Exact details of how IV was gifted need to be fleshed out over the Christie’s source
 * Needs footnote explaining number of works in series and maturation of sources over time; for example, sometime after 2001, Messinger expanded the range from 1965 to 1977. A good guess is this is because three additional works didn't enter the museum collection until 2006, namely An Island with Clouds, Clouds 5/ Yellow Horizon and Clouds, 1963–1964 and Sky Above Clouds / Yellow Horizon and Clouds.  That leaves us with nine current works, with An Island with Clouds as the only one which doesn’t truly fit in terms of style and motif, so eight in the total series to date.
 * Explain visual impact and placement of IV above the stairwell at the AIC.

Christopher Buckley
In the above GA review, I said that I forgot something I intended to add. Well, I just remembered it several months later and I'm making this comment as a reminder: Viriditas (talk) 00:05, 20 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Buckley, Christopher (1988). "Sky Above Clouds". Blossoms & Bones: On the Life and Work of Georgia O'Keeffe. ISBN 0826512321..

Issues and errata

 * It started as a sketch sometime after October 1960 while she was on a six-week tour flying around the Asia-Pacific region, stopping over in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Fiji, Tahiti, Korea, the Philippines, and Hawaii

Oddly, this claim about Hawaii appears in several sources, but doesn't seem to make sense and it's been bothering me for some time. She only visited Hawaii twice, once in 1939, and a second time in 1982. I assume it means her flight landed in Hawaii on her way to Japan, or in the reverse direction, but again, it bothers me, because if she visited Hawaii three times, we would know about it. Viriditas (talk) 23:52, 3 June 2024 (UTC)