Early Life
Georgia O’Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on November 15, 1887, the second of seven children. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago from 1905 and 1906 and the Art Students League of New York from 1907 and 1908. During her time in art school, O’Keeffe excelled in imitative realism, which composed much of the curriculum then. However, she was largely dissatisfied because she did not relate with this style and as a result, temporarily quit making art. She worked for a short time as a commercial artist in Chicago and then moved to Texas to teach. Return to Art
O’Keeffe eventually returned to art in 1912 when she took a summer course at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. The course was taught by Alon Bement from the Teachers College of Columbia University. Bement had a huge impact on O’Keeffe as he shared with her the unorthodox ideas of his colleague, Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow believed art was the expression of an artist’s feelings and that these feelings were best conveyed through a balanced organization of lines, colors, lights, and darks. O’Keeffe identified with Dow’s ideas and with Bement’s help, was able to steer clear of forms she didn’t previously relate to. While working as an art teacher and as Bement’s assistant, O’Keeffe began to experiment with the Dow’s ideas. Meeting of Stieglitz
O’Keeffe returned to New York in the fall of 1914 and stayed there until June 1915 to take classes at the Teachers College. She began teaching there in the fall of 1915. She made a couple of charcoal drawings in attempt to discover her personal style and sent them to her former classmate, Anna Pollitzer. Pollitzer in turn showed them to the renowned photographer Alfred Stieglitz on January 1, 1916. Without her knowledge, Stieglitz exhibited ten of her drawings at his famous gallery, 621. New York
In 1918, Stieglitz tried to convince O’Keeffe to move to New York by offering to finance her painting for a year. She accepted this offer and moved to New York. O’Keeffe and Stieglitz eventually fell in love and once his divorce was finalized, married in 1924. They lived and worked together for the next twenty years. New Mexico
In 1929, O’Keeffe went on a vacation with her friend, Beck Strand to Taos, New Mexico. It was here she first fell in love with New Mexico. Afterwards, she began spending her summers in New Mexico. Stieglitz’s Death
From 1923 until his death in 1946, Stieglitz worked tirelessly to promote his wife’s work through annual exhibitions at the Anderson Galleries, the Intimate Gallery, and An American Place. Later Life
In 1949, three years after Stieglitz’s death, O’Keeffe moved to New Mexico. She produced much of her famous work here. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, her fame continued to grow. However, her eyesight deteriorated and forced her to retire from art in 1973 until she met Juan Hamilton, a young potter. With Hamilton’s help, she was able to continue painting sculpting. In 1976, her autobiography, GEORGIA O’KEEFFE was a bestseller. In 1985, O’Keeffe received the Medal of Arts from President Ronald Reagan. She died in Santa Fe, New Mexico in March 1986 at the age of 98. Even today her unique abstract and precisionist style is recognized throughout the world. |
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