| Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) | ||
| Georgia O'Keeffe Museum |  Born on large farm in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Georgia O'Keeffe was the second of seven children to an Irish father and Dutch-Hungarian mother. She entered a world of strong matriarchs; grandmothers raised families alone, one widow and other abandoned; unmarried aunts were professional women. The first painting to make an impression on her was a red rose by her grandmother. By age of 10 knew she would be an artist Georgia was rebellious from beginning: found school (including art school) dull and constricting. At age 15 (1902) she attended a Wisconsin parochial school where she learned to "draw lines more lightly." She then moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, where she encountered a Chatham (Virginia) art teacher named Elizabeth May Willis: recognized talent; allowed her to work at own pace; awarded special art diploma at graduation; urged mother to send her to professional art school. Art Institute of Chicago (1905-6) - drew from plaster casts O'Keeffe enrolled in the Art Students League in NY - William Merritt Chase stimulated her love of paint and color. But she felt her pictures were imitations of teachers; she became discouraged and stopped painting for several years Her mother was dying of TB; Georgia took job in Chicago drawing lace and embroidery for advertisements (1909); returned to Virginia after a year because of measles. In 1912 her sisters encouraged her to take a University of Virginia art class taught by Alon Bement, a student of Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow stressed oriental principles of design: 1) balance of light and dark and 2) importance of filling space beautifully, with sensitivity to openings between shapes. She was introduced to a book developing the idea that colors and shapes are expressive without regard to subject matter. She was offered a job as summer class instructor at the University of Virginia (1913-1916). She taught art in the Amarillo, Texas, public schools (1912-1913) until she argued with the school board because she refused to order copybooks. She left to study with Dow (Teachers College of Columbia University) after one year. Walking down hall at Columbia, she heard music from classroom; students were drawing abstract lines and shapes suggested by songs. Accepting a new job at a small college in South Carolina, began to experiment. She drew simple shapes and lines in charcoal while listening to music; she then progressed to watercolor. One day in 1915 she lined her drawings and paintings against the wall and threw out anything that did not express her own ideas alone. She did a series of charcoal drawings which she mailed to her friend Anita Pollitzer as a private letter ("Do not show them to anyone"). Anita took them to Alfred Stieglitz who responded, "Finally a woman on paper!" Stieglitz hung them in a show with two other artists in May 1916. Okeeffe went into the gallery and insisted they be removed; he convinced her to leave them. Eight years later they were married. (He left his wife and daughter. Stieglitz was 23 years older. She was first not taken seriously by other artists; she was assigned the tasks of framing and hanging paintings. Subject of about 500 photographs by Stieglitz. Georgia had to take care of Stieglitz. He wore only a certain kind of tie, a certain kind of sock, a certain kind of shirt; she walked all over the city to buy them. Having been the subject of about 500 photographs by Stieglitz, O'Keeffe did not like to paint people; she didn't want to subject them to the long hours of posing. The first paintings of this period were almost totally abstract In the 1920s, they became more representational; flowers, city scenes, farmhouses (still simplified & abstract). O'Keeffe spent the winters with Stieglitz on 13th floor of Shelton Hotel; she passed the summers at Lake George at farmhouse on his family estate. In winters she painted views of skyscrapers from her window; in summers she focused on sides of barns, clamshells, shingles, blown up images of flowers. 1928 sources of inspiration drying up 1929 invited to Taos, NM. Alternated summers in NM and winters in NY; then returned to living in NY. Mural project at NY Radio City Music Hall fell through; hospitalized for nervious exhaustion. Returned to NM in summers. 1940 bought ranch (Ghost Ranch) 1945 bought house in village; grew own food 1946 Stieglitz died 1946 first retrospective by woman artist at Museum of Modern Art 1964 major retrospective exhibit at Art Institute of Chicago When in her 70s took trip down Colorado River in rubber raft; paintings include bleached bones
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O'KeFFee painted FFlowers.