Master From the Past – Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the most significant and intriguing artists of the twentieth century, known internationally for her boldly innovative art.

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. In a career spanning more than sixty years, she produced more than a thousand artworks.

O’Keeffe was known for her striking flower paintings and other captivating works. She took to making art at a young age and went to study at the Art Institute of Chicago in the early 1900s.

O’Keeffe found an advocate in famed photographer
and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz, who showed her work to the public for the first time in 1916. Married in 1924, the two formed a professional and personal partnership that lasted until his death in 1946. Some of her popular works from this early period include Black Iris (1926) and Oriental Poppies (1928).

After frequently visiting 
New Mexico since the late 1920s, O’Keeffe moved there for good in 1946 after her husband’s death and explored the area’s rugged landscapes
in many of her works. This environment inspired such paintings as Black Cross,
New Mexico (1929), Cow’s Skull with Calico Roses (1931) and Jimson Weed (1936). O’Keeffe died on March 6, 1986, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.

Images courtesy of: www.georgiaokeeffe.net