03 - Wisconsin, Georgia O'Keeffe

You may not imagine Georgia O'Keeffe from Wisconsin, but sometimes you are born and have to find your home. For her, the desert Southwest.
Wisconsin ratified the 19th Amendment on June 10, 1919.


Georgia Totto O’Keeffe has been recognized as the “Mother of American modernism”, an American painter creating innovative impressionist images and challenged perceptions. She trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and then the Art Students League of New York, but she felt constrained by her lessons focused on recreating or copying what was in nature. While working as a commercial artist, she learned of the Palo Duro Canyon, driving much of her later work.

She showed work in her early career, in particularly through her future husband, Alfred Stieglitz, an art dealer and photographer. He was drawn to her sincerity in her work and developed a professional and then personal relationship that led to their marriage in 1924.

In 1929, Ms. O’Keeffe began spending part of the year in the Southwest, which served as inspiration for her paintings of New Mexico landscapes and images of animal skulls. Throughout the 20’s, her work was analyzed for Freudian undercurrents, which was denied by Ms. O’Keeffe. Her passion for the forms and features of the Southwest continued to flourish and prioritize her art and life as she spent much of each year there.

Why this woman?

I studied Georgia O’Keeffe throughout school in art, architecture and photography classes. Her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz tied her to the history of modern art, which was my passion at Wash U. He shared her life through his photography and a window into her existence that she rarely shared with the public. Her art filled the other side of the story.

Her innovative expression of art pushed femininity into modern art that was growing throughout the early years of her career. The controversy of female sexuality being alluded to throughout the forms changed the response to women artists. It instilled discussion key to building the genre of modern art on the large scale, bringing women into the conversation.

To me, she stood as a strong woman providing art that was cultural, feminine, beautiful, and impressionable. She looked deep into the world around her and gave the view she saw. Unadulterated. Uncensored. And the view was graceful, bright, and sensual. There are few people that cannot attribute her notable pieces to her from a generation where women did not stand out. The defining principles of modern art developed alongside her impact and gifts. She speaks to all in their own way, and this makes her iconic.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

55 - Georgia, Moina Belle Michael

13 - Iowa, Pauline Esther Phillips (Abigail Van Buren)

64 - The final closure.