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Thread: Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) was born on this day. The Irish-American painter has been described as the mother of American modernism. Radiator Building - Night, New York (1927), Red Hills & White Shell (1938) & Music Pink & Blue II (1918)
Born in Wisconsin, she was of Irish & Hungarian descent. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1905-6). She was at the Art Students League, NY (1907) & visited galleries there learning of new art movements. She worked as a graphic designer in Chicago (1910)
Here’s an overview of my artworks. I create original ink drawings inspired by love, hope & joy. To celebrate Christmas, when you buy an artwork you can choose a second free. Please note some artwork may already have sold. Ends 14th December https://twitter.com/robertbohan/status/1327631232583217155
From 1911 she began teaching art in Virginia & began to experiment with abstraction, establishing American Modernism. In 1912-4 she was teaching in Texas & S Carolina (1915) Uni Virginia (1912-4)
O’Keeffe met Alfred Stieglitz in 1916 who offered to show her work. She was working in W Texas at the time. She also worked directly from her subconscious. Charcoal Drawings (1915)
Her bold approach to colour & daring abstraction were revolutionary for the time. Morning Sky (1916), Landscape (1916-8) & Red & Green II (1916)
1918 saw her move to NY under Stieglitz’s patronage. There she met Paul & Rebecca Strand, Edward Steichen, Marsden Hartley & Charles Demuth & caught the Spanish ‘Flu. IV (1917), Nude Series VII (1917), Music Pink & Blue II (1918) & Blue Flower (1918). Sumptuosity ensued.
O’Keeffe began to paint simplified more abstract images of plants at the time & these were a theme of hers throughout her life. Large scale images of them began in 1924. Series I No 8 (1919), Lake George Reflection (c1921), Blue & Green Music (1919-21) & Sun Water Maine (1922)
Critics have claimed to see genitalia in her work. She disagreed. Given the power & universality of her subconscious they saw what they themselves wanted to. Grey Line with Black, Blue & Yellow (1923), Pattern of Leaves (1923), Red Canna (1924) & Flower of Life II (1925)
In the late ‘20s she carried out a number of skyline pictures. The Brooklyn Gallery held a retrospective in 1927. Her fame was assured by canny PR. She married Stieglitz (1924). Yellow Calla (1926), Red Poppy (1927), 2 Calla Lilies On Pink (1928) & Oak Leaves, Pink & Grey (1929)
O’Keeffe was in New Mexico by 1929. The region was to provide fertile ground for her imagination & images which have come to define the landscape there. Trees at Glorietta (1929), Taos Mountain (1930), Out Back of Marie’s II (1930) & Horses Skull (1930)
Exhaustion stopped her from working in the mid ‘30s. However she had become a sought after artist & she soon returned to form. She even was picked to help advertise canned pineapple! Horses Skull (1931), Cow Skull (1931), The White Flower (1932) & Rust Red Hills (1934)
Such is the iconic nature of her approach that whole generations have grown up plagiarising her style! Rams Head with Hollyhock (1935), Blue Morning Glories (1935), Black Iris VI (1936) & Red Hills & White Shell (1938)
Her pineapple commission meant she visited Hawaii in 1939 which resulted in some 20 canvases she painted later in NY. Crab Claw (1939), Pineapple Bud (1939), Black Lava Bridge (1939) & Fishhook from Hawaii (1939). Fishhook is a tour-de-force!
O’Keeffe was the subject of one-man exhibits in 1943 & 1946. The latter at MOMA. She began her Black & White Place series. Stieglitz died in 1946. Stump in Red Hills (1940), My Front Yard (1941), It Was a Man & a Pot (1942) & Pelvis with the Distance (1943) & Black Place (1944)
‘Experts’ criticised her pursuit of repeated subjects - however that is to be blind to her main concerns: shape, colour & emotion. Cebolla Church (1945), Pelvis II (1944), In the Patio IV (1948), Brooklyn Bridge (1949) & Poppies (1950)
She travelled to Europe in the ‘50s & enjoyed exploring America. Her greatest journeys were into her subconscious, however. Cottonwoods (c1952), Easter Sunrise (1953), Black Door with Red (1954) & Ladder to the Moon (1958)
In the ‘60s views from airplane windows inspired her almost hallucinatory series of astonishing Cloudscapes. In the Patio VIII (1950), Starlight Night (1963) , Sky Above Clouds IV (1965) & Not from my Garden (1967)
1972 saw her lose much of her sight due to macular degeneration & she turned to striking watercolours. White Calla (1972), Orchid (1975), From a Day at Ester’s (1976/7) & Untitled, Red Wave with Circle (1979)
O’Keeffe, not unreasonably, was angered at being termed a woman artist. She was an artist & that was that. Her final work was done mainly in pencil & charcoal (until 1984) Sky Above Clouds (1965), O’Keeffe by Paul Strand (c1917), Untitled, Roof with Snow (1916) & Sunrise (1916)
She died in 1986 & her ashes were spread at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. She is recognised as one of the great American artists of the 20th C. E River from the 30th Floor of the Shelton Hotel (1928), Dark Iris No 1 (1927), Grey, Blue & Black - Pink Circle (1929) & Black Cross (1929)
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, founded in 1995 holds the largest collection of her work. Untitled (Portrait of Paul Strand, 1917), Blue I (1916), Autumn Trees - The Maple (1924) & NY Street with Moon (1925)
It is fascinating that two of the prime movers behind international modernism were women of Irish extraction - O’Keeffe & Eileen Gray (1878-1976). O’Keeffe by Steichen (1920) & Gray by Bernice Abbott (1926). Both have left a lasting impression on how we view the world today.
Here’s more on my work. Please note some drawings may have already sold. My offer of buy one, choose a second free, ends 14th December. https://twitter.com/robertbohan/status/1327937238634811392
