Georgia O

1
(No Transcript)
2
Georgia OKeeffe
(1887 1986) Painter
3
Georgia Totto OKeeffe
Georgia OKeeffe was born November 15, 1887 near
Sun Prairie, wisconsin into a family of dairy
farmers. She was one of seven children. Her
mother sent all of the girls to art classes. She
did so well that they sent her to art schoolshe
attented the school of the Art Institute of
Chicago and the Art Students League of New York
City.
4
In 1908 she became discouraged with her work,
quit painting and went to Chicago to work as a
commercial artist. She became a grade school art
teacher in Texas and then taught art at West
Texas AM University. In 1916, a friend took some
of her drawings to a gallery owner in New York
City named Alfred Stieglitz (he was also a well
known photographer). Without her knowing, he put
10 of her drawings up in his gallery (she wasnt
too happy!) Within a short time, Alfred and
Georgia were married.
Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia OKeeffe
5
Blue and Green Music (1921)
Georgia spent time with Alfreds friends, who
were all artists. Inspired by them, she began to
paint again, this time in oil instead of
watercolors as she had done before. She made
large paintings of things from nature seen up
closeas if through an magnifying glass (or
camera lens).
6
In 1924, she made her first large-scale flower
painting, Petunia no. 2. By the mid-1920s, she
had become known as an important American artist,
and her work brought high prices. In 1928, six of
her paintings of calla lilies sold for 25,000,
the largest sum ever paid for a group of
paintings by a living american artist.
Two Calla Lilies on Pink (1928)
7
Around 1928, georgia felt the need to travel to
inspire new art. She traveled to Taos, New Mexico
with a friend and fell in love with the canyons,
deserts mountains of the area. From then on,
she spent part of every year working in New
Mexico. Her second summer there, she started
collecting and painting bones, and started
painting the architecture and landscape she found
there.
Pelvis with the distance (1943)
8
In 1932, she suffered a nervous breakdown over a
large project that wasnt going on schedule. She
didnt paint again until 1934 when she visited
Ghost ranch in New Mexico. She decided to live
there and bought a house in 1940.
Oriental Poppies (1927)
9
White Flower on Red Earth (1943)
10
Ranchos Church (1929) Ghost ranch inspired many
of OKeeffes paintings. She bought a Ford Model
A and learned to drive so she could go exploring
in the canyons and desertshe was a loner.
11
Summer Days (1936) One of her most famous
paintings
12
In 1945, she bought a second house a few miles
away at Abiquiu, which became the setting for
many of her later paintings. She liked to be up
close to the subject she was painting, which
meant she often painted in wind so strong she had
to hold onto her easel, and sun so hot she had to
crawl under her car to get some shade.
The place in the Shadow (1942)
13
Georgia OKeeffe home studio was designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1998
While Georgia was in New Mexico in july of 1946,
Stieglitz suffered a stroke. She went back to New
York to be with him when he died on July 13,
1946. Shortly after, she moved permanently to New
Mexico. She continued to paint the lanscape
around her until 1972, when at age 84 she
realized her eyesight was failing, and she
stopped painting.
14
In 1977, President Gerald Ford presented Georgia
with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the
highest honor awarded to and American Citizen. In
1985, she was awarded the National Medal of
Arts. Georgia OKeeffe died in Santa Fe, New
Mexico on March 6, 1986 at the age of 98. In
accordance with her final wishes, she was
cremated and her ashes were scattered into the
wind from the top of a mountain in New Mexico.
In 1997, The Georgia OKeeffe museum was
established in Santa Fe to carry on her legacy,
its assets include her paintings, photographs,
library, house and property.