Transcript OKeeffe PowerPoint - Field School Art Discovery

Georgia O’Keeffe
(1887 – 1986)
Painter
Georgia Totto O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe was born
November 15, 1887 near Sun
Prairie, wisconsin into a family
of dairy farmers. She was one
of seven children. Her mother
sent all of the girls to art
classes. She did so well that
they sent her to art school–she
attented the school of the Art
Institute of Chicago and the Art
Students League of New York
City.
In 1908 she became
discouraged with her work,
quit painting and went to
Chicago to work as a
commercial artist. She
became a grade school art
teacher in Texas and then
taught art at West Texas A&M
University. In 1916, a friend
took some of her drawings to
a gallery owner in New York
City named Alfred Stieglitz
(he was also a well known
photographer). Without her
knowing, he put 10 of her
drawings up in his gallery
(she wasn’t too happy!)
Within a short time, Alfred
and Georgia were married.
Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia spent time with
Alfred’s friends, who were
all artists. Inspired by them,
she began to paint again,
this time in oil instead of
watercolors as she had
done before. She made
large paintings of things
from nature seen up close–
as if through an magnifying
glass (or camera lens).
Blue and Green Music (1921)
In 1924, she made
her first large-scale
flower painting,
Petunia no. 2. By the
mid-1920s, she had
become known as an
important American
artist, and her work
brought high prices.
In 1928, six of her
paintings of calla lilies
sold for $25,000, the
largest sum ever paid
for a group of
paintings by a living
american artist.
Two Calla Lilies on Pink (1928)
Around 1928, georgia
felt the need to travel to
inspire new art. She
traveled to Taos, New
Mexico with a friend
and fell in love with the
canyons, deserts &
mountains of the area.
From then on, she
spent part of every year
working in New Mexico.
Her second summer
there, she started
collecting and painting
bones, and started
painting the architecture
and landscape she
found there.
Pelvis with the distance (1943)
In 1932, she
suffered a nervous
breakdown over a
large project that
wasn’t going on
schedule. She
didn’t paint again
until 1934 when
she visited Ghost
ranch in New
Mexico. She
decided to live
there and bought
a house in 1940.
Oriental Poppies (1927)
White Flower on Red Earth (1943)
Ranchos Church (1929)
Ghost ranch inspired many of O’Keeffe’s paintings. She bought a
Ford Model A and learned to drive so she could go exploring in the
canyons and desert–she was a loner.
Summer Days (1936)
One of her most famous paintings
In 1945, she bought a
second house a few miles
away at Abiquiu, which
became the setting for many
of her later paintings. She
liked to be up close to the
subject she was painting,
which meant she often
painted in wind so strong
she had to hold onto her
easel, and sun so hot she
had to crawl under her car to
get some shade.
The place in the Shadow (1942)
Georgia O’Keeffe home
& studio was designated
a National Historic
Landmark in 1998
While Georgia was in New Mexico in
july of 1946, Stieglitz suffered a
stroke. She went back to New York to
be with him when he died on July 13,
1946. Shortly after, she moved
permanently to New Mexico. She
continued to paint the lanscape
around her until 1972, when at age 84
she realized her eyesight was failing,
and she stopped painting.
In 1977, President Gerald Ford
presented Georgia with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the
highest honor awarded to and
American Citizen.
In 1985, she was awarded the
National Medal of Arts.
Georgia O’Keeffe died in Santa Fe,
New Mexico on March 6, 1986 at the
age of 98. In accordance with her final
wishes, she was cremated and her
ashes were scattered into the wind
from the top of a mountain in New
Mexico.
In 1997, The Georgia O’Keeffe
museum was established in Santa Fe
to carry on her legacy, its assets
include her paintings, photographs,
library, house and property.