I believe I would rather have Stieglitz like something - anything I had done - than anyone else I know.
- Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986)
Across
the arc of the 20th century, Georgia O'Keeffe created an extraordinary
body of work that enlivened and enriched the texture of American Art. Her
well-known marriage to Alfred Stieglitz brought together two of the finest American artists in
history. O'Keeffe's paintings are characterized by a bold and startling
use of color and a selection of images which animated everything from
New York skyscrapers to desert flowers, to cattle skulls. One art critic says, "She is
chiefly known for paintings in which she synthesizes abstraction and
representation in paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones and
landscapes."
O'Keeffe's paintings offer a special opportunity for reflection and meditation on what is interesting and beautiful...
O'Keeffe expressed herself in blunt, powerful way. Her comments are meditations in and of themselves:
"I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality, I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say in paint."
Red Snapdragons 1923
"I decided to start anew, to strip away what I had been taught."
Shell # 1 1928
"I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me - shapes and ideas so near to me - so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down."
Pelvis Series, 1945
"I don't really know where I got my artist idea - I only know that by that time it was definitely settled in my mind."
