Welcome to the virtual portion of our KCU/Carter County Public Library Summer Reading Program 2025! This week we will begin to explore the art of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe.
O'Keeffe in 1932, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz
1887 - 1956
Georgia O'Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin in 1887 and was the 2nd of 7 children. Art was part of her life at an early age. In 1917 she visited her brother at a military camp in Texas. She created the painting, The Flag, which expressed her concerns about World War I.
In 1912 she began to develop an abstract style rather than a realistic style. As she began to study and develop this style from her perspective as an artist, she helped in developing the American modernism movement. This movement primarily developed between World War I and World War II. Her continued study caused her to become known as "The Mother of American Modernism". O'Keeffe painted to express her private feelings. Her approach to painting was also unique. She did not sketch out her painting first and then paint it. Instead she just painted as she went along.
O'Keeffe was most famous for her flower paintings and her desert-inspired landscapes. She painted over 200 large flower paintings that looked at flowers as if they were under a magnifying glass. She was heavily influenced by the places and environments where she lived. As a result, she has a series of skyscraper paintings that were made while she lived in New York City. Her desert paintings were painted when she visited and then lived in the New Mexico area.
O'Keeffe's paintings continued to gain attention and she won several awards. In 2014, after her death, her painting Jimson Weed/ White Flower No 1 sold for $44,405,000 at an auction. While living in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s, she was the highest paid American woman artist. In 1976 she published her autobiography which became a bestseller. In 1977, then President Gerald Ford presented her with the Presidential medal of Freedom, the highest honor awarded to American Civilians, and she even made it onto US Postal service stamps!
Let's get started exploring the art of Georgia O'Keeffe!
From Wikipedia - Georgia O'Keeffe - Wikipedia
