PRESENTATION OUTLINE
O'Keeffe was working
as a teacher in Texas
when she sent pictures
of her work to a friend.
Her work drew attention from
and well-known photographer,
Alfred Steiglitz.
He was married.
Soon divorced.
Then remarried
to
O'Keeffe.
This begins the long
love story of two
iconic American artists.
O'Keeffe is one of
the great American modernist painters.
Her primary subject:
flowers, color, shape
Her perspective:
large, simplified, personal
As an art student, O'Keeffe originally studied realism and abstract art, then composition
and design (okeeffemuseum.org). Eventually,
her paintings became defined by bold composition and use of saturated color.
O'Keeffe's work also is influenced by the geography where she came of age: the American southwest, particularly New Mexico.
It is no small irony that O'Keeffe, who used such intense color, began to lose her sight in her 70s.
She died at 98.
Sources:
Aperture Foundation, O'Keefe Museum,
PBS,
Whitney Museum
