Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe

ABOUT THE BOOK

When she was 10 years old, Georgia O’Keeffe decided she was going to be an artist, and she sure did. She went on to become the most celebrated and prolific female artist of the 20th century.

Georgia O’Keeffe is known for her close up paintings of flowers as well as her portrayal of New Mexico’s landscape. Her juxtaposition of thematic symbols such as skulls, flowers, and landscapes brought much critical acclaim. She is a pioneer of American abstract art and is renowned for advancing the status of women in art.

Her iconic close up pictures of flowers and desert landscapes of New Mexico are immediately identifiable. The bright bold colors of her pallet and abstract depiction of everything from bones and flowers to Manhattan are like nothing else in the art world. Since she rose to fame in 1916, O’Keeffe has become a household name, and a beloved painter.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Kate has over 10 years of experience writing, researching and editing articles, eNewsletters, web content, press releases, and resource books. She’s a huge nerd, and am interested in everything from science and the latest technology to crafts, food and celebrity gossip. Because of her eclectic tastes, She written about topics ranging from childhood brain development to fuel efficiency to micro-breweries. Kate loves writing and researching, as it gives her a chance to inform and entertain readers, and an opportunity to learn something new.

EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK

On November 15, 1887, in their Sun Prairie Wisconsin farmhouse, Francis Calyxtus O'Keeffe and Ida Totto O'Keeffe welcomed their daughter Georgia into the world. She was second child and first daughter for the couple, who went on to have five more children.

O’Keeffe started her art career at a very early age. Around the same time she proclaimed her intentions to become a writer at age 10, she and her sister started classes with a local water color artist.

It is remarkable that her parents, Wisconsin dairy farmers, were able and willing to support their young daughters aspirations at a time when their were few opportunities for women at all, let alone in the art world.

Though her family moved from Wisconsin to Virginia during her sophomore year she stayed with her aunt for a year before joining her family and finishing high school in Williamsburg.

Art instruction for women was not very common in the early 1900s, but O’Keeffe was able to take classes at School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a year. She then went to New York and received instruction from the Art Students League. During this time, O’Keeffe was studying the mimetic type of painting, where the artist tries to “mimic” their subject by painting it exactly as it is seen.

The mimetic style was far from the abstract style that would later make her famous, but O’Keeffe demonstrated exceptional ability to imitate her subject on a canvas. She won the William Merritt Chase prize for her still life “Dead Rabbit With Copper Pot.”

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Georgia O’Keeffe Biography

+ Introduction

+ Background

+ Major Accomplishments and Awards

+ Personal Life

+ ...and much more