Photograph by Philippe Halsman, 1967
Georgia O’Keeffe Georgia O’Keefe is one of the most significant and brilliant artists of the twentieth century, known for her innovative and colorful body of work. Her paintings of flowers, desert landscapes, and abstract shapes are some of her most iconic and recognized pieces. She was one of the first female artists to achieve international acclaim and is often considered the mother of American Modernism O’Keeffe was born in 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where she spent her childhood. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905-1906 and the Art Students League in New York in 1907-1908, where she began exploring her own style in art. In trying to find a personal language to express herself and her ideas through the medium, she began drawing charcoal abstract images in 1915, which was recognized as a radical break with traditional styles and is considered one of the first American artists to produce “pure abstraction.”
White Pansy, 1927
Calla Lily Turned Away, 1923
Photographer Unknown
Her use of vivid color and break from traditional styles was unique and caught the attention of Alfred Stieglitz, a renowned New York photographer, and gallery owner. Inspired by O’Keeffe as a person and as an artist, Stieglitz invited her to exhibit her pieces at his gallery in the city. A well-known photographer, Stieglitz, asked O’Keeffe to pose for him. She appeared in over 300 nude photos taken by Stieglitz, and the images created a stir of controversy in the New York art community of the time. The relationship progresses, and O’Keeffe became Stieglitz’s mistress for several years. When he finally divorced his wife, he and O’Keeffe married, but the marriage was a turbulent one from the start. Although the passion and excitement of their affair faded after they married, O’Keeffe was still distraught upon learning that her husband was having an affair with a photographer and art advocate known in the city. Rather than stand witness to her husband’s affair, she began spending time in New Mexico, where she was inspired by the brilliant landscape. Although it was a turbulent time in her life, O’Keeffe thrived as an artist in New Mexico and produced some of her most famous and important pieces. The southwest state became her sanctuary, the place she chose to spend most of her later years up until her death at ninety-eight.
Photograph by Bruce Weber. Georgia O’Keeffe, Abiquiu, N.M., 1984
Blue Lines X, 1916
Watercolor Studies O’Keeffe produced much of her early work (from 1916 to 1918) in Canyon, Texas, painting watercolors of the landscape and nude self-portraits. Before 1997, her work had been preserved and stored in a Santa Fe bank vault by the artist, to protect the fragility and vibrancy of the watercolors. Now they have been combined into a book showing the beauty and delicacy of these pieces. The result of her work during this period reflects the vast plains and open skies of West Texas and particularly to the dramatic landscape and the exploration of the nude and color.
Light Coming on the Plains, 1917
Nude Series XII, 1917
Nude Series VII, 1917
Nude Series VIII, 1917
Nude Series I, 1917
Sunrise (1916)
Sky above Clouds IV, 1965
O’Keeffe’s Hawaii The bright colors of landscapes and details of the flowers and vegetation comprise one of O’Keefe’s often forgotten cluster of paintings.The pieces are depictions of Hawaii, produced in the artist’s nine-week visit in 1939. “A kiss to you — soft and quiet like this air,” O’Keeffe wrote to Stieglitz, her husband, upon her arrival in Honolulu. The air she talks about is tangible in the brightly lit palette and exotic shapes she chooses for documenting the island’s flora. Later in her trip, on outer islands such as Maui, O’Keeffe began a more profound encounter with Hawaii’s unique environment. There, she found her way to Iao Valley; the paintings she created here of the valley’s misty, green shoulders, and deep clefts threaded by silver waterfalls are palpably sensuous and intrinsic to the place. The result is a body of paintings that transcend the viewer into these exotic and mystic landscapes.
Waterfall, No. I, ‘Iao Valley, Maui 1939
Pineapple Bud, 1939
Heliconia, Crab’s Claw Ginger, 1939
White Bird of Paradise, 1939
Hibiscus With Plumeria, 1939
Pink Ornamental Banana, 1939
Pelvis with Blue, 1944
New Mexico In the summer of 1929, Georgia O’Keeffe made her first trip to New Mexico. As she explored the unfamiliar environment, she experimented with fresh colors, forms, and compositional strategies. During the 1930s and 40s, she continued to spend part of most years living and working in the high desert landscape that inspired a new chapter in her professional life. Over time, her New Mexico paintings became as well known as the work she had completed earlier in New York. In 1949, three years after Stiglitz’s death, she made New Mexico her permanent home and continued to paint, draw and make pottery until her failing eyesight forced her to retire in 1984.
I found I could say t shapes that I couldn - things I had
things with color and n’t say any other way d no words for.
Deer's Skull with Pedernal, 1936
Cow’s Skull with Calico Roses, 1931
Pedernal, 1941
Patio VIII, 1950
Patio with Cloud, 1956
Red Canna, 1924
Other Works During her active years as a painter, which only ended due to her failing eyesight, O’Keeffe produced hundreds of paintings, sketches, and photographs that together make up a body of work of delicate beauty and talent. Here are some of her single pieces that usually don’t belong to a cohesive group, but are in no way less impressive than the previous ones. From abstract shapes and colors to sunsets, flowers, and landscapes, she was able to bring the viewer into her paintings.
Music, Pink and Blue No. 2 1918
Series I, No. 4, 1918
Lake George, 1922
Lake George Reflection, 1922
Blue and Green Music, 1919/21
Alligator Pears (Alligator Pear- No. 11), 1923
Untitled (Alligator Pear in Red Dish), 1923
Two Calla Lilies on Pink, 1928
Two Calla Lilies on Pink, 1928
Pedernal, 1945
Machu Picchu I, 1957
Untitled (Mt. Fuji), 1960
Afterword In her ninety-eight years of life, O’Keeffe created a body of work of great magnitude and delicate beauty. From nude watercolors, to abstracts shapes and intricate closeups of flowers, landscapes and shapes, her paintings marked art history. Not only that, but O’Keeffe is also an example for succeeding generations as a woman ahead of her time that conquered her place in the art world. Although Stiglitz introduced her to people in the art domain, O’Keeffe was able to conquer a place among a mostly white male industry apart from her husband’s name and became one of the most famous female artists. This book is an attempt to give an overview of O’Keeffe’s entire body of work that expends through decades and styles. I aimed to cast light on the diversity in themes of her body of work.Yet, there is a recurring attention to detail, color, and composition that
is carried throughout her paintings, which I hope to have showcased here. In the current times of global uncertainty and tension, I think it’s important to look at artists such as O’Keeffe, who was able to transcend beyond the expectations of a female artist at the time. It’s a time to keep making art. Using this medium as a reflection of what is happening around the globe, a way to express our insecurities and conflicts; using it to help others or assist awareness of the issues facing the world. O’Keeffe once wrote, “I can’t live where I want to, I can’t go where I want to go, I can’t do what I want to, I can’t even say what I want to. I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to.” Although she wrote this in a different circumstance from the one we live today, we would be fools to not use this time of reclusion to at least produce art as we want, and can, do.