Georgia O'Keeffe

Introduction

Georgia O'Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to a farming family, and the second of seven siblings. Her childhood farm life in the Midwest greatly influenced her art and her later life; she would never be as comfortable residing in cities. When O'Keeffe was sixteen, the family moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, where she took art classes for the initial time and was recognized as a talented student (Lynes, 34-39). At the school of the Art Institute Two years later, she studied art in Chicago. In the year 1907 she attended the Art Students League in Latest York (Associated Press, 11).

Discussion

O'Keeffe was forced to become a commercial painter for two years to help support her family. Eventually they all moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she attended the summer art classes at the University of Alon Bement, a visiting professor from Latest York's Columbia University (Roxana, 21-26).

In her free time she tried out with charcoal and drew abstract shapes, struggling to find her own style. Her dreams and visions were depicted in these early works. She mailed them to her Columbia classmate and good friend Anita Pollitzer, who showed the works to Alfred Stieglitz, a professional photographer. He was overwhelmed, afterward revealing to them at his gallery devoid of O'Keeffe's knowledge or authorization. Embarrassed, she demanded that he end the expo, to no avail. In 1916, O'Keeffe started using oils in vibrant colors, and also tried out with watercolors (Lynes, 34-39). O'Keeffe had her initial solo expo of charcoals, oils, and watercolors in 1917 (Messinger, 12-19).

Stieglitz, stimulated by the power and beauty of O'Keeffe's face as well as body, photographed her bare. In the year 1921, many of these photos were initial exhibits in New York at his gallery, and resulted in quite a sensation. In 1924, he and O'Keeffe married after Stieglitz was granted a divorce by his initial wife (Associated Press, 11). O'Keeffe commenced to paint cityscapes and skylines.

In 1929, O'Keeffe returned to Latest Mexico with a friend (as the Taos house guest of Mabel Dodge Luhan). It was the initial of a cycle of summers she would spend in Latest Mexico. She was finding her focus in her extraordinary representations of scenery, flowers, as well as additional natural shapes (Roxana, 21-26). O'Keeffe utilized all approximately her: the immensity of the Southwest sky as well as land, its sounds plus hazards, and its canyons, rocks, ...