17th Day of Women's History Month: Georgia O'Keeffe

There are many women artists I could have chosen to highlight for this month--some famous, some not-so-famous, but I chose Georgia O'Keeffe for the simple reason that her art touches me in a way no other artist does.  It's hard to describe the feeling--every single time--I get when I see a painting done by O'Keefe.  My stomach does a little flip, my heart feels like it's been touched, and I feel myself warming all over. The visual penetrates to my very core.  Her work is very powerful indeed.
I can't ever remember seeing anything done by O'Keeffe until I was an adult--isn't that sad?  She's one of the most famous American painters, and I never saw even one painting done by her when I was a child--it's tragic, the non-impact women had on this world.
I made sure things were different for my kids.  I purchased my first O'Keeffe print for my 40th birthday, and hung it in our dining room:

I needn't have worried; both kids had amazing art teachers, and were exposed to a wide variety of artists--male and female.
[At this point, I recommend you spend a little time at the site for the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum--it's a sight for winter-weary eyes!]
Georgia O'Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (the Milwaukee Art Museum has a large collection of O'Keeffe items) in 1887.  By all accounts, she knew at a very early age that she wanted to be an artist, and her family was very supportive.  She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 1907, enrolled at New York City's Art Student's League.  There was actually a four-year period (1908-1912) that O'Keeffe stopped painting, abandoning the idea she could be an artist.  Thankfully for all of us, she changed her Alfred Steiglitz, who also had an art gallery. Steiglitz was taken with the drawings--especially that they were done by a woman (At that time, not a single American museum had a major painting by a woman artist on its walls).  In 1917, Steiglitz sponsored her first solo show at his gallery....followed by 19 more.

mind!  In 1916, a friend took some of her charcoal sketches to photographer
Steiglitz and O'Keeffe married in 1924, and over the next 22 years, he took over 500 photographs of O'Keeffe, including the one above.
Late in 1932, O'Keeffe suffered a nervous breakdown that was brought on, in part, because she was unable to complete a Radio City Music Hall mural project that had fallen behind schedule. She was hospitalized in early 1933 and did not paint again until January 1934. In the spring of 1933 and 1934, O'Keeffe recuperated in Bermuda, and she returned to New Mexico in the summer of 1934. From that time onward, O'Keeffe spent part of each year in New Mexico, and the landscape there became a major focus/inspiration for her work.
In 1946, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City held a
retrospective of her work--the first ever for a woman.
In 1972, O'Keeffe's eyesight was compromised by macular degeneration, leaving her with only peripheral vision. She stopped oil painting without assistance in 1972, but continued working in pencil and charcoal until 1984.  Juan Hamilton, a young potter, appeared at her ranch house in 1973 looking for work. She hired him for a few odd jobs and soon employed him full-time. He became her closest confidante, companion, and business manager until her death. Hamilton taught O'Keeffe to work with clay, and working with assistance, she produced clay pots and a series of watercolors.  This should be an inspiration to those of us who think we're "too old" to learn something new (and if it takes a younger person to help you learn, who am I to judge?)!

In 1977, President Ford awarded Georgia O'Keeffe the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  O'Keeffe died in 1986, at the age of 99.