Georgia O’Keeffe. From Manhattan to the desert
Her flowers hypnotise with their sinuous curves and soft folds. The experiences of a long life influenced her art.
Georgia O’Keeffe was born in a Wisconsin farm (1887) and died at age 98 in Santa Fe, New Mexico (1986). She studied at Chicago Art Institute and at Art Students League, New York.
She became the muse of photographer Alfred Stieglitz, posing for him clothed and nude in over 300 photographs.
Married for 30 years, they had a decisive artistic influence on one another. He promoted her in his New York gallery and with his artist friends.
Stieglitz was the first person to apply Freudian readings to her paintings. Ironically, although he put forward the idea that the flowers were eroticised images, Georgia strenuously denied it:
“When people read erotic symbols into my pantings, they are really talking about their own affairs”.
She was dogged by claims that her work insinuated feminine sexuality.
After they divorced, Georgia moved to New Mexico. Leaving behind the high skyscrapers scene she felt embraced by great open skies discovering infinite new themes for her paintings.
She bought Ghost Ranch and became familiar with the Navajo Indians. And yet, she also had a lifelong fascination with Modernist photography, finding abstraction in the physical world.
Georgia O’Keeffe. Mother of American Modernism. Pioneer of feminist art movement
She was awarded the Medal of Freedom (1977) and the National Medal of Arts (1985).
Georgia O’Keeffe is considered one of the founding figures of Modern American Art and a feminist pioneer.
Her art is timeless as she will always be alive through the fresh images of large eye-catching closely observed flower blossoms.
Top Museum Exhibitions
Museum of Modern Art
New York, 1946
Tate Modern
London, 2016
Kunstforum
Vienna, DEc. 2016 – March 2017
Brooklyn Museum
March 2017 – July 2017
