Life of georgia okeeffe biography
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Through her repeated reworkings of familiar themes she produced an enormous body of work that in intensely focused and unusually coherent. Under the guidance of John Vanderpoel, she excelled in her studies but was sidelined by typhoid fever, forcing her to take a year off for recovery.
It would be surprising if an artist with her passion for the transcendent did not make use erotically charged imagery. She painted prolifically, and almost exclusively, the flowers, animal bones, and landscapes around her studios in Lake George, New York, and New Mexico, and these subjects became her signature images.
She became a feminist icon and a trailblazer for future generations of artists. Her first encounter with this captivating region occurred during a visit in 1929, where the striking desert scenery, indigenous architecture, and rich cultural history of the Navajo people captivated her imagination. O'Keeffe's legacy continues to resonate, with her work celebrated in numerous museums and dedicated exhibitions worldwide, particularly the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which honors her life's work and artistic vision.
Her distinct flowers, dramatic cityscapes, glowing landscapes, and images of bones against the stark desert sky are iconic and original contributions to American Modernism— a style of art that departed significantly from the traditions of the past. It was during this period that O'Keeffe's artistic vision began to evolve, driven by groundbreaking ideas and the vibrant modern art scene she encountered.
O'Keeffe developed an early fascination with the natural world, which would later heavily influence her artwork. O’Keeffe alone returned repeatedly and made New Mexico her home. She began a series of abstract charcoal drawings, to develop a personal language through which she could express her feelings and ideas. ate in life she recalled, “I realized that I had things in my head not like what I had been taught – not ike what I had seen – shapes and ideas so familiar to me that it hadn’t occurred to me to put them down.
In 1925 they moved to a two-room suite at the Shelton Hotel with a view of the New York City skyline. Her upbringing was rich in artistic appreciation, as art was a common family interest shared among her grandmothers and sisters.
Stieglitz played a crucial role in shaping O'Keeffe's career, introducing her work to the avant-garde art scene and providing her with vital financial support. O'Keeffe's powerful vision and deep connection to her subjects solidified her position as a crucial figure in modern art, earning her the title "Mother of American Modernism."
Early Life and Education
Georgia O'Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on a wheat farm.
Many artists looked to the area’s diverse cultures and geography to lend their work a unique character independent of European influences. It was, after all, through painting that O'Keeffe filtered all experience.
New York City and Alfred Stieglitz
In 1916, O’Keeffe began corresponding with Stieglitz.
O’Keeffe was not alone in finding inspiration in New Mexico. O’Keeffe studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (1905–1906) and the Art Students League in New York (1907–1908), where she learned the techniques of traditional realist painting. After sending him some of her charcoal drawings, he exhibited her work at his influential gallery, 291, in 1916.
Bement introduced her to the revolutionary ideas of his colleague Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow encouraged an intellectual and imaginative process of making art that was grounded in personal expression and harmonious design. For her, there had been fulfillment in an existence that almost totally revolved around her art.