ED 686 History of American Art

1. ED 686 History of American Art Georgia O’Keeffe American Artist Presentation by Maribeth Stover

2. Georgia O’Keeffe 1887-1986 American Artist Field of Painting American Modernism Movement

3. Georgia O’KeeffeNo. 13 Special • No. 13 Special • 1916/1917 • Charcoal on paper • 24 1/2x19 in. Early in 1916, Anita Pollitzer took several of Georgia’s charcoal drawings to Slieglitz for him to view. Upon viewing the works, Stieglitz made the now well-noted comment, “Finally a woman on paper!”. O’Keeffe’s first solo show was in 1917.

4. Georgia O’KeeffeBlue and Green Music • Blue and Green Music • 1921 • Oil on canvas • 23x19 in. • In the mid-1920’s, O’Keeffe began making large-scale paintings of natural forms at close range, as if seen through a magnifying glass.

5. Georgia O’KeeffeRed Canna • Red Canna • c. 1924 • Oil on canvas mounted on masonite • The abstraction of form and color in her close up views of flowers, she said, was to make people pay attention.

6. Georgia O’KeeffePansy • Pansy • 1926 • Oil on canvas • 26 15/16x12 1/16 in. • O’Keeffe painted flowers as they had never been seen before

7. Georgia O’KeeffePoppy • Poppy • 1927 • Oil on canvas, 30x36 in. It can be argued that O’Keeffe has made the brilliant red poppy the most famous single flower in America, perhaps the most famous flower in the Western world.

8. O’KeeffeCow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue • Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue • 1931 • Oil on canvas • 39 7/8x35 7/8 in. • During the period of time from 1929 and 1949, O’Keeffe would spend part of nearly every year working in New Mexico. She began collecting and painting bones, as well as the distinctive landscape of the area.

9. O’KeeffeRam’s Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills • Ram’s Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills • 1935 • Oil on canvas O’Keeffe’s skulls were extraordinary objects in and of themselves. She studied flowers, shells and bones as nature’s objects of art-and painted them as her own.

10. O’KeeffeRam’s Skull with Brown Leaves • Ram’s Skull with Brown Leaves • 1936 • Oil on canvas, 30x36 in. O’Keeffe’s reputation and popularity continued to grow, earning her numerous commissions. Her work was included in exhibitions in and around New York.

11. O’KeeffePelvis with the Distance • Pelvis with the Distance • 1943 • Oil on canvas • 223 7/8x29 ¾ in. • O’Keeffe referred to the vast New Mexico desert as “the faraway” because the thin and dry air allowed her to see for miles and miles.

12. O’KeeffeDeer’s Skull With Perdernal The Pedernal was a flat-topped messa that she painted repeatedly, constantly changing her perspective and her palette. “It is my private mountain,” she explained. “…I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at…not copy it.”

13. O’KeeffeRed Hills, Grey Sky • Red Hills, Grey Sky • 1935 • Oil on canvas,14x20 in. When American artists of the nineteenth century claimed independence in their art, they did so by heroicising the great, newly explored, wild American landscape. O’Keeffe painted some her pictures as abstracts.

14. O’KeeffeCebolla Church • Cebolla Church • 1945 • Oil on canvas,20x36 1/8 in. In 1945, O’Keeffe bought a second home in Abiquiu, New Mexico. The area near her home became the setting for many later paintings.

15. O’Keeffe Red Hills with White Shell, 1938 Jimson weed, 1936 Georgia O’Keeffe looked at a few objects in nature with unusually intense concentration: flowers, shells and animal skeletons among them.

16. Georgia O’Keeffe Another Church, Hernandez, New Mexico 1935, Oil on canvas • O’Keefe was a major influence in American art from the 1920’s. • She received recognition for contributions as a painter, as well as challenging the boundaries of modern American artistic style. • O’Keeffe was inspired by nature and she often transformed her subject matter into abstract and representational images.