Fine Artists: Georgia O'Keeffe American Painter 1887-1986
"If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see
what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I
said to myself - I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me but
I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at
it - I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of
flowers. ...Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw and when
you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own
associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as
if I think and see what you think and see of the flower - and I don't."
-Georgia O'Keeffe  Among
the great American artists of the 20th-century, Georgia O’Keeffe stands
as one of the most compelling. For nearly a century, O’Keeffe’s
representations of the beauty of the American landscape were a brave
counterpoint to the chaotic images embraced by the art world. Her
cityscapes and still life's filled the canvas with wild energy that
gained her a following among the critics as well as the public. Though
she has had many imitators, no one since has been able to paint with
such intimacy and stark precision. With exceptionally keen powers of
observation and great finesse with a paintbrush, Georgia O'Keeffe
recorded subtle nuances of color, shape, and light that enlivened her
paintings and attracted a wide audience.
Georgia O'Keeffe's primary subjects were landscapes, flowers, and bones, explored in series over several years and even decades. The images were drawn from her life experience and related either generally or specifically to places where she lived. Remarkably, she remained independent from shifting art trends and stayed true to her own vision, which was based on finding the essential, abstract forms in nature. Born in 1887 near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Georgia O'Keeffe received art training at the Art Institute of Chicago school (1905), the Art Students League of New York (1907–8), the University of Virginia (1912), and Columbia University's Teachers College, New York (1914–16). Georgia O'Keeffe became an art teacher and taught in various elementary schools, high schools, and colleges in Virginia, Texas, and South Carolina from 1911 to 1918. During one such position, Georgia O'Keeffe produced a remarkable series of charcoal drawings that led her art, and her career, in a new direction.  Georgia
O'Keeffe was married to the pioneer photographer Alfred Stieglitz
(1864-1946) in 1924. Alfred Stieglitz was 54 when Georgia arrived in New
York, 23 years her senior. Educated in Berlin, he had studied
engineering and photography before returning to the States at the turn
of the century and opening the 291 gallery. He pioneered the art of
photography, and single-handedly introduced America to the works of
Picasso, Matisse, and
Cezanne at the gallery, along with publishing his
well respected "Camera Works" magazine. It was at Stieglitz's famed New
York art gallery "291" that her charcoal drawings were first exhibited
in 1916. The union lasted 22 years, until Stieglitz's death.
During the long winter months in New York Georgia O'Keeffe began to paint her very large flowers, some of her most popular work today. Georgia O'Keeffe completed her first enormous flower painting in 1924.The giant flower paintings were first exhibited in 1925. A Calla Lily painting would sell for $25,000 in 1928 and draw media attention to "O'Keeffe" like never before. Georgia's financial success would finally prove to her that an artist could make a living with a paintbrush. "I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality, I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say...in paint" ,stated Georgia O'Keeffe referring to the 300 photos taken of her by her husband. By 1928 Georgia began to feel the need to travel and find other sources for painting. The demands of an annual show needed new material. Friends returning from the West with stories stimulated Georgia's desire to see and explore new places. Alfred had no desire to leave New York and Lake George; he hated change of any type. In May of 1929, Georgia O'Keeffe would set out by train with her friend Beck Strand to Taos, New Mexico, a trip that would forever change her life.  After
spending a summer in New Mexico, Georgia O'Keeffe, enthralled by the
barren landscape and expansive skies of the
desert, would explore the
subject of animal bones in her paintings of the 1930s and 1940s. Georgia
found the thin, dry air enabled her to see farthe, and at times could
see several approaching thunderstorms in the distance at once. She affectionately referred to the land of northern New Mexico as "the faraway"...a place of stark beauty and infinite space. Soon after their arrival, Georgia O'Keeffe and Beck where invited to stay at Mable Dodge Luhan's ranch outside of Taos for the summer. Georgia O'Keeffe would go on many pack trips exploring the rugged mountains and deserts of the region. On one trip Georgia O'Keeffe visited the D.H. Lawrence ranch and spent several weeks there. Just as with the flowers, Georgia O'Keeffe painted the bones magnified and captured the stillness and remoteness of them, while at the same time expressing a sense of beauty that lies within the desert. |
