Georgia O Keeeffe America Analysis

For Georgia O’Keeffe America was her canvas. The vibrant colors of her life and legacy left brilliant marks on history and how we view American art and artists today. As a small girl from Sun Prairie Wisconsin no one expected her to become as successful as she was (Unknown B 1). With the help of her husband, Alfred Stieglitz and her talent she went on to create masterful works (Unknown B 1). O’Keeffe once said, “To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.” (Unknown F 1). From her deep cool abstract images, to her delicate up close flower paintings you can tell that Georgia O’Keeffe loved to try new things and enjoyed painting images from her mind and the world around her. Her works were beautiful and complex, and like nothing seen …show more content…
She tried new forms and styles and people began to recognize and love her abstract forms. She mixed different colors with such skill, and incorporated many shapes. With the help of Stieglitz she became famous. In 1923 Stieglitz held a major exhibit of her work at the Anderson Galleries (Unknown D 1). The following year Stieglitz’s wife of 31 year divorced him (Unknown D 1). Realizing his love for O’Keeffe he asked her to marry him in 1924 (Unknown D 1). That same year O’Keeffe created her very first up close flower image (Unknown D 1). “I decided that if you painted a flower up close, you cloud not ignore its beauty.” (Unknown D 1). After the change in her art came a change in her lifestyle. O’Keeffe left her home in Texas and moved into a hotel in New York with Stieglitz after their marriage (Unknown D 1). They lived there for the next 12 years (Unknown D 1). O’Keeffe used her time in New York to create beautiful images of the city itself (Unknown D 1). From her view from the 30th floor in her new home she painted New York. O’Keeffe’s images of New York were beautiful but others questioned her work. “What are you going to paint New York for anyway, you can’t do that, the men haven’t even done that well with it. What do you think you’re going to do?” (Unknown G 1:22-1:29). Regardless of the fact that O’Keeffe had true talent people saw her as someone else. After O’Keefe and Stieglitz’s marriage, Stieglitz took a series of risqué photos of O’Keeffe (Unknown C 2). He then proceeded to display these images in his gallery “291” in 1921 (Unknown H 7:46-8:01). The forty-five images of O’Keeffe were perceived as a sexual statement (Unknown C 2). This not only affected her self-esteem but her art as well (Unknown C 2). From then on her art was overshadowed by this new and somewhat hurtful image (Unknown C 2). After the incident at “291” she began to make different up close flower images. (Unknown C 2). Not only