Bermuda's cultural tourism has been given a big boost as a result of the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition, currently on view in the Ondaatje Wing of the Bermuda National Gallery.

With several major newspapers and journals in the US and Canada featuring details of the exhibition, Masterworks' Mr. Tom Butterfield points out that this kind of coverage benefits Bermuda as a whole.

"You can't buy the sort of publicity we've had in The New York Times or the Toronto Globe and Mail as a result of this exhibition. I think the fall-out of all this is yet to be realised,'' he says. "It's no mere accident that this O'Keeffe show has received so much attention overseas. I don't think we really realised, at the time we planned this exhibition, just how huge the interest in O'Keeffe is, and what an enormous following she has.'' The Travel sections of both The New York Times and Toronto's Globe and Mail have carried news of the show, both noting that it has been staged to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the famous artist's visit to the Island.

O'Keeffe's first visit, in 1933, was to recuperate from a nervous collapse.

She also spent part of the following winter on the Island, still not fully recovered, but working now in pencil and charcoal. It is her drawings of banyan trees and banana blossoms, 13 in all (out of the known 14), which form the body of the Bermuda exhibition.

The coverage would suggest that even a comparatively small show of work by such a household name, has placed Bermuda on the artistic map for the many tourists who look for more than sun at the sea-side when they take a trip abroad.

Mr. Butterfield says he believes it is quite likely that the name "O'Keeffe'' is more familiar throughout the world than that of Bermuda.

One of the lessons arising out of this, he says, is his belief that Bermuda does not have to rely on Government approval or Government funds in order to promote cultural tourism: "Everybody is talking about this `cultural' and `eco' tourism, but so far, nobody seems to have done anything much about it.'' Says Mrs. Elise Outerbridge, curator of the O'Keeffe show, "I must admit I was astonished by the interest in our show! It has really placed us on a whole new plane. It seems to have highlighted a new era of growth for art in Bermuda, and we now have travel agents ringing up from the States, asking about tours down here that will concentrate on the arts. Bermuda, as an artistic centre, seems to be blossoming.'' She and Mr. Butterfield say they now need to work out a programme that would be of interest to visitors, such as following the trails of Winslow Homer (who painted prolifically here at the turn of the century), or Georgia O'Keeffe.

She goes on to say that this interest is by no means limited to art-related publications: "We've had Golf Digest, for instance, who have asked for details of this and other shows. People like to know there are other things to do and see besides sports. This has encouraged us to realise that we don't have to wait around for Tourism. There are other ways to attract people coming here -- and it also provides a lot of satisfaction for us to do that!'' Mrs. Outerbridge also reveals that Angela Cheyne, a correspondent from the BBC has been visiting Bermuda, ostensibly to write a business piece.

"But when she saw the show, she decided to write a piece on O'Keeffe and other art on the Island as well, which she hopes will be broadcast in the near future. This is also wonderful publicity for Bermuda, as the BBC has a world-wide audience.'' A major article in the October 14 issue of Antiques and the Arts Weekly picks up on the fact that despite seemingly constant, world-wide interest in the American painter, who died in 1986 at the age of 98, the `Bermuda period' has been relatively neglected by biographers and art historians.

O'Keeffe exhibit written about in Canadian, American newspapers Far from being a mere hiccup in her illustrious career, it is now being increasingly recognised by American art historians that O'Keeffe's drawings reveal a new facet to the way in which she used drawing as a means of replenishment, a method which she employed periodically throughout her life to re-centre her work.

Both Mr. Butterfield and the show's curator, Mrs. Elise Outerbridge are especially thrilled with the recognition that the show has earned from other art institutions overseas. Says Mr. Butterfield, "Let's face it, this has also put the Bermuda National Gallery on the map.'' Praise has come from such lofty institutions as the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the O'Keeffe Foundation itself in New Mexico.

"I think the last thing we ever expected when we first mooted the idea of this show, was that Elizabeth Glassman, who is the director of the O'Keeffe Foundation, would give us so much personal help. And arising out of her interest, we had Barbara Lynes from the National Gallery of Art in Washington who is compiling the Catalogue Raisone m on O'Keeffe, come down to visit the show and to record her Bermuda drawings for that catalogue.'' Another result of the exhibition is that Barbara Haskell, curator of paintings at the Whitney Museum in New York has agreed to become a member of the Board of Masterworks to act as an official advisor on curatorial and academic matters.

Says Mrs. Outerbridge, "We are planning a show in 1997 on three other well-known painters who visited Bermuda -- Marsden Hartley, Charles Demuth and Albert Gleizes -- and we wrote to her asking if she would advise us. She has written books on Demuth and Hartley. When she comes here in January, she is giving a lecture on Stieglitz and his Circle. This connects directly to the O'Keeffe show, of course, as Stieglitz, who was one of the first to recognise O'Keeffe, also married her.'' BERMUDA ABROAD -- Masterworks' Mr. Tom Butterfield shows off clippings of some of the publicity their Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition has received overseas.