--- ---  # Rattlesnakes and Ladders: The Inside Story of a Visit With Georgia O'Keeffe by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Mar 31, 2017 12:30 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico; stark visions of a pioneer painter. Caption from LIFE. Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico; stark visions of a pioneer painter.John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) and [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) Mar 31, 2017 12:30 PM UTC In 1966, after LIFE photographer [John Loengard ](http://time.com/4588308/moment-by-moment-john-loengard/)first shadowed the artist [George O’Keeffe](http://time.com/3599349/georgia-okeeffe-auction-record/) at Abiquiu, one of her New Mexico homes, the images he created were put aside by editors, consigned for some future moment when there would be a small spot in the magazine that needed filling. But it quickly became clear that O’Keeffe demanded more attention. Though she had been painting through much of the 1920s and ’30s, she was starting to become a more of a household name outside of the New York art world.  March 1, 1968 cover of LIFE magazine. John Loengard—LIFE Magazine Loengard was dispatched back to New Mexico, to the artist’s other home at Ghost Ranch, and the result was a cover story and 13-page photo spread in the March 1, 1968, [LIFE magazine](https://books.google.com/books?id=4UwEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA40#v=twopage&q&f=false). And now, half a century later, one of his images — _Holding Eliot Porter’s Rock, Abiquiu_ — is featured in the first museum exhibit to delve into Georgia O’Keeffe’s personal style, which recently opened at the [Brooklyn Museum](https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/georgia%5Fokeeffe%5Fliving%5Fmodern). “She became a celebrity because of her independence, because of the way she engineered her life in such a simple way that she looked like a role model for counterculture lifestyle, and LIFE played that up in those pictures,” says Wanda M. Corn, the exhibit’s curator and Stanford University professor emerita in Art History. The spread “hit a nerve in ’68 with people who wanted to leave urban living and who are beginning to think about sustainable lifestyles that aren’t dependent on modern technology. The hippies are about ready to emerge, the feminists are about ready to emerge—this is part of a new public for her. It’s only really late in her life that she becomes famous to people who know nothing about art, when they discovered her through something like LIFE.” [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) Speaking to TIME this week, Loengard recalled what it was like to photograph her in 1966 and 1968 at her two homes in New Mexico: --- > “” ---  Caption from LIFE. Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico; stark visions of a pioneer painter. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Georgia O'Keeffe at 80. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A weathered pig's skull adorns a wall. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Overhead beams shadow the wall of a roofless courtyard at Abiquiu. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. In the studio at Abiquiu. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Georgia O'Keeffe's studio at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Rummaging through files of photographs. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Georgia O'Keeffe's studio at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A morning visitor at the ranch. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Vegetables are picked at Abiquiu. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Collection of antlers, skulls and bones on a window still at Ghost Ranch, artist Georgia O'Keeffe's home. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Georgia O'Keeffe in her garden, Abiquiu, New Mexico. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Ghost Ranch, desert home of artist Georgia O'Keeffe. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Georgia O'Keeffe at home with her pet chows. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A chow trots across the sage-blown patio. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A basketful of vegetables is readied for use at the ranch. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A favorite stone and a favorite belt. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. In the bedroom at Abiquiu. John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Georgia O'Keeffe: Stunning Photographs of the Artist at Home ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4702372/georgia-okeeffe-photographs-story/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4702372/georgia-okeeffe-photographs-story/"},"headline":"Rattlesnakes and Ladders: The Inside Story of a Visit With Georgia O'Keeffe","datePublished":"2017-03-31T12:30:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:22.285Z","description":"\"She just took what interested her\"","url":"https://time.com/4702372/georgia-okeeffe-photographs-story/","keywords":["Artists","photography","LIFE Magazine","1968"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte91936c1f2727754/6988be7cf887dc1e0fe996f3/170315-georgia-okeeffe-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte91936c1f2727754/6988be7cf887dc1e0fe996f3/170315-georgia-okeeffe-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Georgia O'Keeffe 1968","caption":"Artist Georgia O'Keeffe at her home in New Mexico, 1968.","creditText":"John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/artists/","name":"Artists"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4702372/georgia-okeeffe-photographs-story/","name":"Rattlesnakes and Ladders: The Inside Story of a Visit With Georgia O'Keeffe"}}]}] ```