Georgia O'Keeffe

Basic Infromation
1. O’Keeffe was born in Wisconsin to two dairy farmer parents on November 15, 1887. The family relocated to Virginia, but she stayed with her aunt in Wisconsin until 1903.
  1. In 1905, she began her studies of art at the Art Institute of Chicago, later studying at the Art Students League of New York. By 1908, she felt constrained by this school and was no longer able to fund her studies.
    1. Between 1911 and 1918, she taught in Virginia, South Carolina, and Texas, making time for art in the summer. She began to study art again at the University of Virginia after being inspired by the philosophy of Arthur Wesley Dow.
      1. She caught the attention of Art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, who requested she move to New York City in 1918. The two lived together in New York City and spent their summers upstate.
        Their relationship was rocky. When the two first moved in together, Stieglitz was already married. It was not until 6 years after they moved in together than Stieglitz divorced his previous wife. He also had an affair while married to O’Keeffe, sending her into a depression and nervous breakdown which landed her in the hospital for long periods of time both in 1928 and 1933.
        In 1929 O’Keeffe began to spend part of her year in New Mexico. When Stieglitz died, O’Keeffe relocated permanently to New Mexico. She owned a ranch called the Ghost Ranch, as well as an abandoned house in Abiquiú which she converted into a studio.
        O’Keeffe moved to Santa Fe in 1984, where she died on March 6, 1986. Her ashes were spread at her Ghost Ranch.
Art Career
1. Georgia O'Keeffe began her formal studies of the arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905. After a year of classes, she could no longer afford classes and went on to teach, during which time she did not paint for 4 years. However, she began to teach art in 1911, and returned to her studies of art at the University of Virginia in 1912.
  1. It was during this time she began to incorporate abstraction into her work, signifying her departure from realism. In late 1915, she resumed teaching at Columbia College in South Carolina, during which time she continued to demonstrate an affinity for abstraction using charcoal as her medium.
    1. One of her first big break-throughs came when she mailed her charcoal drawings to her friend and former classmate, Anita Pollitzer, in 1916. Pollitzer showed O’Keeffe’s drawings to Alfred Stieglitz, a well known art dealer of the time. In April, he showed 10 of O’Keeffe’s drawings in his famed 291 gallery.
      1. In the fall of 1916, O’Keeffe began to develop an affinity for watercolor. She painted without a sketch, using vibrant colors inspired by the sunset to express her most personal feelings.
        However, Stieglitz believed that watercolor was a medium favored by amateur female artists, suggesting that she quit the medium. As a result, O’Keeffe moved away from this medium.
        In 1918, Stieglitz paid for living arrangements and a workplace for O’Keeffe in New York. Stieglitz was involved with many important American modernists and photographers, including Paul Strand. The photography of Paul Strand played an influence in O’Keeffe’s later works.
        She began to take on a precisionist style during her time in New York, depicting objects of nature in a simple, yet precise manner to reflect her calm outlook on life. She mainly focused on flowers, though other plants and landforms are featured prominently on her work.
        The urban landscape of New York City also makes an appearance in her works during this time, as O’Keeffe painted various skyscrapers as well as the New York skyline.
        After visiting New Mexico with a friend in 1929, O’Keeffe spent nearly every year working in the state. She used the New Mexican landforms as inspiration for her works, however she also used items as simple as rocks and bones which she found on the ground.
        After some time, critics perceived O’Keeffe as stagnant, seeing her focus on New Mexico as limited. This perception was shattered in 1938 when she accepted a commission for two paintings from Dole Food Company, alongside other great painters of the time.
        She spent 9 weeks on various islands in Hawaii, however she created the most vibrant paintings while on Maui. She created 20 paintings featuring the landscape, flora, and traditional Hawaiian fish hooks, though did not paint the requested pineapple until Dole sent one to her studio.
        She was the subject of various important retrospectives. In 1943, she was featured in her own retrospective by the Art Institute of Chicago, and was the first woman to receive a retrospective from MoMA in 1946.
        The mid-1940s also saw an attempt by the Whittney to catalogue her entire collection. O’Keeffe took on architectural paintings inspired by her New Mexico home, and also made paintings of the sky called cloudscapes.
        The 1970s saw a dramatic change in her career. In 1972, she developed macular degeneration, a condition which left her with only her peripheral vision. As a result, she quit oil painting and took on watercolor painting. She also worked on her autobiography, which she published in 1976.
        She continued to create charcoal works until 1984, two years before her death. She received a staggering amount of awards, including honorary degrees from Harvard and the College of William and Mary.
        She also received recognition from presidents, including the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from Gerald Ford in 1977. In 1985, she received the National Medal of Arts from Ronald Reagan. Finally in 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
        It’s important to note however, that O’Keeffe refused to join the feminist art movement, did not join any women-exclusive projects, and disagreed that her works represented female iconography. She did not enjoy being referred to as a “female artist” and rather wanted to be called an artist.
Art Style
1. Jimson Weed is one of O’Keeffe’s most famed oil paintings. This piece was created in 1936 as a commission for Elizabeth Arden, a cosmetics executive. As is the case with many of her other botanically themed works, she paints the flowers from an up close perspective with great precision.
  1. The placement of the four flowers, along with the detail with which they were painted, draws the viewer into their pinwheel shape. When considered alongside the bright, fresh color pallet, this piece has a light energy.
    1. O’Keeffe has stated that she was inspired by the way that looking at a flower draws you into your own world, and she hopes to bring that feeling to the viewer through her art. The upclose perspective gives the viewer a bit of intimacy with the plant, allowing us to appreciate details which we normally don’t notice when viewing a flower from far away.
      1. Being that O’Keefe was an avid gardener, it’s possible that she adopted this style in order to portray her appreciation for the small details of nature. Her modernist style is what sets her apart from other botanically-oriented artists.
2. O’Keeffe did not only focus on nature in her works. During her time in New York City, she also used the architecture surrounding her as inspiration for her works. In Radiator Building at Night, she paints the radiator building, located in Midtown Manhattan.
  1. This skyscraper was constructed just three years prior to the painting's creation in 1927. O’Keeffe uses a precisionist style to depict this art-deco building, and takes a lowered perspective perhaps to portray the awe which she felt while surrounded by skyscrapers in the Big Apple.
    1. This low vantage may also be used to convey the oppressive claustrophobia which O’Keeffe experienced in New York, having moved to the city after a stay in Texas.
      1. This painting demonstrates a sense of movement and energy, created by the contrast of the colorful city light on the night sky, and the diagonal beam shown running in the foreground. This piece may serve as a symbolic portrait of O’Keeffe and Stieglitz, with Stieglitz represented by the Scientific American Building with his name above it, and O’Keeffe represented by the Radiator Building.
        Though the couple preferred nature, as indicated by their frequent stays in upstate New York, this painting cements their undeniably large presence in New York City.
3. The American Southwest was the subject of many of O’Keeffe’s works following her first trip to New Mexico in 1929. She produced Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue in 1931.
  1. During this time, many artists focused on creating works inspired by the United States. O’Keeffe’s use of the skull to represent the American spirit was unique to the movement, putting her in contrast from other artists who relied on landscapes and images of towns.
    1. The placement of the skull, an image associated with the American Southwest, over a red, white, and blue cloth background might be in accordance with that trend. O’Keeffe stated that the ragged edges of the skull were meant to represent the enduring American spirit, and the way in which beauty endures in the desert.
      1. This is also represented by the smooth indentations in the skull, perhaps representing the impacts of the elements and their role in aesthetics. Like her other paintings, O’Keeffe relies on a unique Precisionist style of creating still-lives which sets her apart from other painters of the era.
4. Black Cross: New Mexico is another one of O’Keeffe’s works inspired by the American Southwest. It was created after her first visit to Taos, New Mexico. She took late night walks and travelled around the State in her Ford Model A, during which time she found crosses erected in the New Mexican desert.
  1. It’s likely that these crucifixes were part of chapels, known as moradas, by the Roman Catholic Penientes. The stark rigidity of the cross looks turbulent when compared to the rolling hills behind it. This turbulence is also seen when comparing the darkness of the cross to the reddish glow of the New Mexican sky.
    1. The order of religion and the passion of nature are put in opposition in this painting. Just as with her flowers, O’Keeffe uses a close up perspective of the subject at hand, the cross. This view allows the viewer intimacy with the subject, creating an environment in which they can admire every detail.
5. O’Keeffe also created pure landscapes inspired by her time in New Mexico. Ghost Ranch Landscape was painted in 1936, depicting the view from the ranch owned by O’Keeffe.
  1. The land appears relatively flat, making the main focus of the piece the trees and the mountains in the distance. Interestingly, a tree and the highest point of the mountain overlap at the center of the piece.
    1. This composition suggests that O’Keeffe is demonstrating the centrality of nature, both in the form of landforms and flora, in her life and works. Perhaps she is also highlighting the synergy between the two in creating nature’s beauty, showing that both living plants and the unmoving rocks contribute to Earth’s aesthetic.

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Georgia O'Keeffe

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