American Modernist, Precisionism
Born in Wisconsin
Training:
1905 Art Institute, Chicago
1907 Art Students League, NYC under William Merritt Chase
1916 exhibits work at Stieglitz’s 291, next year 1st solo show there
1918 moves to NYC to focus art career
1924 marries Stieglitz; 1st showing of her close-up paintings of flowers
1925-29 many paintings of sky scrapers & the urban landscape
1927 1st retrospective exhibition of her work (Brooklyn Museum)
Later years she moved to Albiqui (NM) where she focuses more on nature - esp. the exaggerated flowers, skulls, etc.
Born in Wisconsin
Training:
1905 Art Institute, Chicago
1907 Art Students League, NYC under William Merritt Chase
1916 exhibits work at Stieglitz’s 291, next year 1st solo show there
1918 moves to NYC to focus art career
1924 marries Stieglitz; 1st showing of her close-up paintings of flowers
1925-29 many paintings of sky scrapers & the urban landscape
1927 1st retrospective exhibition of her work (Brooklyn Museum)
Later years she moved to Albiqui (NM) where she focuses more on nature - esp. the exaggerated flowers, skulls, etc.
Key Works:
Black Iris, III, 1926.
Red Canna, 1924.
Black Iris, III, 1926.
- accurately describes the center of a black iris (like an expressive photographic close-up), however it is also often seen as a veiled representation of feminine genitalia. Linda Nochlin described the painting’s “organic vulvar forms” as the “unity of the femine and the natural order”. O’Keefe consistently denied the suggestion of Freudian influences in her art. 50 yrs later.
- Feminist artists assessed her art the same way [e.g. Judy Chicago (b.1939) Dinner Party, Georgia O’Keefe Place Setting, 1974-9]. Feminists celebrated O’K as originator of “female iconography”, but O’K renounced them.
- What IS important from a feminist perspective, is her success at a time when the art world (critics, artists, gallery owners) and society in general was male dominated. She was a pioneer for women. (See below re: infl of photography)
Red Canna, 1924.
City Night, 1926.
Ram’s Head, White Hollyhock and Little Hills, 1935.
See Artstory biography
The Arts Section: Art: Georgia O'Keeffe's Cityscapes city night
- Okeefe’s cityscapes focused on skyscrapers. She created 30 skyscraper paintings 1925-29.
- Influenced by photographers in Stieglitz’s circle (Paul Strand, Edward Steichen, Charles Sheeler) who all photographed the changing face of NYC. She borrowed from the close cropping of the lens, she also recreated some photographic effects in paint (lens flare and halation), and the use of converging lines for effect (as seen here).
- No figures are depicted, just abstracted architectural forms.
- According to O’Keefe she was building a crystalline architecture of color”
- See MIA page re: City Night
- quick audio for City Night
Ram’s Head, White Hollyhock and Little Hills, 1935.
See Artstory biography
The Arts Section: Art: Georgia O'Keeffe's Cityscapes city night
Skyscrapers In America
- In the postwar years, the skyscraper was a symbol of American achievement and progress.
- Skyscrapers in NYC: Flatiron Building, 1903. Cass Gilbert’s Woolworth Building, 1910-13. Shelton Hotel (O/K moved to 30th floor 1924). Chrysler Building, 1930. Empire State Building 1931.
- In 1925 there were 45 new skyscrapers under construction - a record year for building.