Hello, welcome to Artist in School, the home of art history for young people and interested
amateurs. Today, I am going to tell you 10 amazing facts about Georgia O’Keeffe, she
was a 20th century American artist and a pioneer of American modern painting. She is best know
for her large canvases of close up views flowers, skyscrapers, animal skulls and the desert
landscapes of New Mexico. So, let’s make a start.
Fact number one Georgia O’Keeffe was born in the American
mid-west on the rolling plains of Sun Prairie in Wisconsin. She spent her first twelve years
of her life on her parents’ farm surrounded by golden fields of corn, but it was an isolated
existence, which would have a profound effect on her later life and painting. Occasionally,
to break the long winters of seclusion, Georgia and her sisters were driven into the nearby
small town of Sun Prairie to have lessons in painting and Drawing.
Fact number two In 1903 the family moved to Williamsburg,
Virginia and two years later Georgie enrolled as a student at the Art Institute in Chicago.
But at the age of 21 she suffered a severe bout of typhoid fever and had to stay at home
for several months. However, in 1907 she continued her studies at the Art students League in
New York, still a famous art school today. Here, she was encouraged to paint a picture
a day and focus on colour and texture. But a lot of the teaching was old fashioned, concentrating
on copying old masters, so it wasn’t long before she sought out something a little bit
more inspiring.
Fact number 3 Georgia was 25 years old in 1908 when she
paid her first visit to the 291 Gallery in New York, run by the photographer, Alfred
Stieglitz. The gallery displayed avant-garde works by Matisse, Cezanne, and others, mostly
unknown at the time to the wider American public. It was here that she saw drawings
by the sculptor Rodin which greatly influenced her own charcoal drawings. Later that year,
she won a scholarship for producing the best still life in her class but she didn’t pursue
it, because she was so short of money. Instead she decided to move to Chicago to earn a living
as commercial artist.
Fact number 4 In 1914 Georgia enrolled at the Columbia University
Teachers’ College in New York where she studied under the inspirational artist and
teacher, Arthur Dow. He opened her eyes to abstract forms of expression and, in particular,
to the work of the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. She also joined the National Women's
Party and remained a frequent visitor to the latest exhibitions at Stieglitz’s 291-Gallery.
In May 1916 Stieglitz exhibited a series of her charcoal drawings in his gallery, but
later that year Georgia moved to Texas, to become the head of the art department at West
Texas State National College.
Fact number five. In 1917 Alfred Stieglitz organised Georgia’s
first solo exhibition comprising of charcoal drawings and watercolours at the 291-Gallery.
In the autumn of that year she travelled to Colorado with her sister and on the way back
passed through New Mexico. It was here that she first set eyes on the landscape that would
fascinate her for the rest of her life. During this time, she often wrote to Alfred Stieglitz
and in 1918 with his financial support, decided to move back to New York and devote herself
entirely to painting. During the next few years she became increasingly close to Stieglitz,
spending summers at his family property in Lake George, and winters back in New York
City, in a small studio owned by Stieglitz’s sister.
Fact number 6 In 1921 51 paintings by Georgia and 61 photographs
by Stieglitz, most of which were nude portraits of Georgia herself, were exhibited together
at the Anderson galleries in New York. As a result, Georgia found herself thrust into
the limelight as Stieglitz’s model and muse and not an artist in her own right. She didn’t
like that. But the following year a second solo exhibition of Georgia’s work, organised
by Stieglitz, was a great success and established her reputation as an unusual and very talented
woman. Later, in 1924, Georgia, aged 37 married Alfred Stieglitz, who was 23 years her senior,
and it was around this time, that she began to produce the close-up, magnified images
of flowers that became the hall mark of her work.
Fact number 7 In 1929 Georgia travelled to New Mexico to
paint and this pattern would be repeated for the next few summers. The paintings produced
during these years explored the landscapes and motifs of the desert and were exhibited
annually at An American Place, Stieglitz's new gallery in New York. In 1932 Georgia had
a nervous breakdown and spent some months away from painting convalescing in Bermuda.
But in 1934 the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art bought its first Georgia O'Keeffe painting
and during this year, she spent her first summer at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico before,
in 1940, buying a house and some land in nearby Abiquiú.
Fact number 8 in 1946 the Museum of Modern Art in New York
staged a major retrospective exhibition of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work. It was the first
solo exhibition they had ever given to a woman. In July of that year Alfred Stieglitz suffered
a heart attack. Georgia immediately returned to New York, but he died 4 days later aged
82. After a couple of years Georgia moved permanently to New Mexico and in 1953, at
the age of 66, began to explore the world, making her first trip to Europe, followed
by trips to Peru, the far east, India and Japan.
Fact number nine In 1961 at the age of 74, this doggedly determined
woman, went white water rafting down the Colorado river, with a group of friends and when at
home in Abiquiú, she still painted from 6 o’clock in the morning to 9 o’clock at
night. During this period, she was elected a member of the prestigious American Academy
of Arts and Letters, the Association for outstanding American artists, which added to the many
distinctions that she had already received.
Fact number 10 1970 saw her largest retrospective exhibition
to date, at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, this presented her work to
a new, younger generation. Then in her mid 80’s, with her eyesight deteriorating, she
met a young artist, Juan Hamilton, a potter. For the rest of her life he became her assistant,
encouraging her to experiment with clay and to continue to create paintings. Interestingly,
many artists sought her advice, yet Hamilton was the only one with whom she shared her
vast experience. In 1986 at the age of 98 Georgia O'Keeffe died. To paraphrase her friend
Ansel Adams, ‘She’s was a great artist, nobody can look at a painting of hers without
being deeply affected, her mystique endures.’
Thanks for watching, I hope you’ve learnt lots about Georgia O’Keeffe, what an amazing
artist. I would also like to thank my Patrons who have supported the making of this video.
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