Georgia Totto O'Keeffe, An American Artist

Georgia O’Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) is a prominent artist in American Art; she received recognition for her technical contributions and she challenged the boundaries of modern American artistic style. She is primarily known for paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones and landscapes that are powerful abstract images.

O’Keeffe played a significant role in bringing an American art style to Europe during a time when Europeans dominated art. This accomplishment improved her art-historical importance because she was one of few women to gain entry into this level of professional influence.

Anita Pollitzer took some of Georgia O’Keeffe’s drawings to New York in 1916 and showed them to photographer Alfred Stieglitz at his 291 gallery. Stieglitz said O’Keefee’s drawings were the “purest, finest, sincerest things that had entered 291 in a long while”. As a result, he chose to exhibit ten of O’Keeffe’s drawings in April 1916. O’Keeffe had not been consulted prior to the exhibit and found out about it through an acquaintance; she confronted Stieglitz and agreed to let her drawings hang. This became Georgia O’Keeffe’s first solo show.

In 1924 Alfred Stieglitz began organizing annual exhibits of O’Keeffe’s work and by the mid 1920’s, Georgia O’Keeffe had become one of America’s most important artists. In 1928 six of her calla lily paintings sold for $25,000 US dollars, which was the largest sum ever paid for a group of painting by a living American Artist.

 “Black Iris III” (1926) evoked a veiled representation of female genitalia. Georgia O’Keeffe denied painting vaginal imagery, but many well-known art historians have linked her work to the feminist artists of the 1970’s. Judy Chicago gave O’Keeffe a prominent place in her “The Dinner Party”.


To see Red Canna Art Poster by Georgia O'Keeffe click on image:
Red Canna Botanical Art Poster Print by Georgia O'keeffe, 23x34