Georgia OKeefe Modern

1
Georgia OKeefeModern
2
Rams Head, White Hollyhock and Little Hills
Modern Art

• Modern art usually refers to art that has been
  created since 1900.
• The main idea behind modern art is that artists
  are more interested in painting what they are
  thinking and feeling instead of only what they
  are seeing.
• What do you see in this painting?
• Do you think this is a painting of something
  real?
• Do you think there is anything unusual about this
  painting?
• Do you like this painting?

3
Georgia OKeefe
Two Calla Lilies on Pink

• Georgia OKeefe was born in 1887 on a dairy farm
  in Wisconsin. If she were alive today, she would
  be over 120 years old.
• She knew from a very young age that she wanted to
  be an artist. More than that, she knew that she
  wanted to be self-sufficient and to make her own
  way in the world as an artist.
• This was not an easy goal for a woman in the
  early 1900s. Women were not taken seriously as
  artists just because they were women.

4
Pink Sweetpeas

• OKeefe was determined. She studied art at the
  best art programs in the country. She did become
  discouraged when she felt that her work was not
  taken seriously, but she always returned to her
  art.
• OKeefe worked as an art teacher to support
  herself while she pursued her art.
• Eventually, she was able to support herself with
  her art and moved to New York City where she
  lived and worked as an artist.

5
Light Iris

• In her art, OKeefe wanted to show not just what
  she saw, but also what she thought and how she
  felt.
• She was not interested in copying something
  exactly as her eyes saw it, like a photograph.
  She wanted her work to show more than that.
• Georgia OKeefe once said, Most people in the
  city rush around so, they have no time to look at
  a flower. I want them to see it whether they want
  to or not.
• OKeefes work was completely original. No one
  had ever seen art like hers before. She filled
  the entire canvas with a part of a flower. Her
  paintings were all about color and lines. People
  really liked her work, and she became quite
  famous and well-respected in her lifetime.

6
Light Iris
What is this a painting of? How does this
painting make you feel? Do you think you would
like this art better if it were a photograph
instead of a painting? Why?
7
Daltura and Pedernal

• OKeefe took a vacation to New Mexico with a
  friend when she was 42 years old.
• She fell in love with the desert mountains of New
  Mexico and spent many summers there painting.
• She finally moved to New Mexico when she was 62,
  and she lived the rest of her life there.
• You can see the influence of the New Mexican
  desert landscape in much of OKeefes work.

What do you see in this painting? What is
unusual about this painting? Do you like this
painting? Why?
8
Pelvis with Shadow and the Moon

• What do you think this is a painting of?
• Its a painting of a pelvis bone in the
  moonlight.
• Again in this painting OKeefe fills the whole
  canvas with a detailed painting of an object.
• This painting seems to be even more about colors
  and shapes than her other paintings.
• Do you think that the circle in the sky looks
  like a moon? Why or why not?
• Does this painting look like its painted in the
  desert? How can you tell?

9
Art in Action!
Oriental Poppies

• Draw a picture of something very close-up.
• Only draw part of the object. Be as detailed as
  you can.
• Fill up your whole page with your drawing.

Suggested stories to read to the class Through
Georgias Eyes by Julia Paschkis Georgias Bones
by Jen Bryant My name is Georgia A Portrait by
Jeanette WInter