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Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern
Winner of the 2018 Dedalus Foundation Exhibition Catalogue Award
This book explores how Georgia O’Keeffe lived her life steeped in modernism, bringing the same style she developed in her art to her dress, her homes, and her lifestyle. Richly illustrated with images of her art and views of the two homes she designed and furnished in New Mexico, the book also includes never before published photographs of O’Keeffe’s clothes. The author has attributed some of the most exquisite of these garments to O’Keeffe, a skilled seamstress who understood fabric and design, and who has become an icon in today’s fashion world as much for her personal style as for her art. As one of her friends stated, O’Keeffe "never allowed her life to be one thing and her painting another." This fresh and carefully researched study brings O’Keeffe’s style to life, illuminating how this beloved American artist purposefully proclaimed her modernity in the way she dressed and posed for photographers, from Alfred Stieglitz to Bruce Weber. This beautiful book accompanies the first museum exhibition to bring together photographs, clothes, and art to explore O’Keeffe’s unified modernist aesthetic.
This book accompanies the show at the Peabody-Essex Museum, Georgia O’ Art, Image, Style.
This book explores how Georgia O’Keeffe lived her life steeped in modernism, bringing the same style she developed in her art to her dress, her homes, and her lifestyle. Richly illustrated with images of her art and views of the two homes she designed and furnished in New Mexico, the book also includes never before published photographs of O’Keeffe’s clothes. The author has attributed some of the most exquisite of these garments to O’Keeffe, a skilled seamstress who understood fabric and design, and who has become an icon in today’s fashion world as much for her personal style as for her art. As one of her friends stated, O’Keeffe "never allowed her life to be one thing and her painting another." This fresh and carefully researched study brings O’Keeffe’s style to life, illuminating how this beloved American artist purposefully proclaimed her modernity in the way she dressed and posed for photographers, from Alfred Stieglitz to Bruce Weber. This beautiful book accompanies the first museum exhibition to bring together photographs, clothes, and art to explore O’Keeffe’s unified modernist aesthetic.
This book accompanies the show at the Peabody-Essex Museum, Georgia O’ Art, Image, Style.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published March 3, 2017
14 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 23, 2020
I have all the heart eyes for Georgia O'Keeffe's wardrobe. It made me want to simplify and modernize my own wardrobe. Well-researched, fascinating book for those interested in fashion history or artists!
August 10, 2024
What aspects of an artists life are considered art? Their craft, of course, but can their homes, their habits, and their clothing also be considered part of their creative expression. This book (which accompanied an exhibit that I didn't see) thinks that the answer is yes, what an artist wears is worthy of study, in the same way that their paintings might be.
Georgia O'Keeffe was a woman who was well aware of her image, and knew what she wanted to project to the world. She also had a very strong sense of her own style, of who she was and what she liked.
This book takes us through her wardrobe, both via actual garments and pictures, and shows how O'Keeffes artistic sensibilities were woven through her whole life.
There are sections about her homes in addition to her wardrobe, and her understanding of how photography would shape her image.
Really wonderful stuff.
Georgia O'Keeffe was a woman who was well aware of her image, and knew what she wanted to project to the world. She also had a very strong sense of her own style, of who she was and what she liked.
This book takes us through her wardrobe, both via actual garments and pictures, and shows how O'Keeffes artistic sensibilities were woven through her whole life.
There are sections about her homes in addition to her wardrobe, and her understanding of how photography would shape her image.
Really wonderful stuff.
August 16, 2020
I saw the actual exhibition that this book catalog is based on at the Brooklyn Museum in 2017. It was great. Her clothes and jewelry that is featured has a minimal elegance.
June 6, 2017
One of the best, and I've read a few, biographies of Georgia out there. That said, the author needs to fall out of love with the word "sartorial" and its derivatives.
October 20, 2022
I picked out this book at the Georgia O'Keeffe museum in Santa Fe - as you can imagine, there are a lot of books about her in the museum gift shop! It can be hard to choose. I got a couple of books, this one I chose because there was a whole section on her clothes, many of which she made herself! Others she had made by tailors, with a few couture pieces.
Anyway, this book covers Georgia O'Keeffe as a very modern woman of her time, exploring the ways she made bold, purposeful choices for herself, and how her personal aesthetic for herself and her home were deliberate choices that directly tied in to how she needed to express her visions in art. One fact I didn't realize until I read this book was how widely photographed she was, and how she developed a very specific look for photographs, probably based on the years with her famous photographer husband. She approached all portraits of herself as composed works of art. She was a fascinating woman and has been my favorite artist for years. If you love Georgia O'Keeffe, you'll really enjoy this (enormous!) book.
Anyway, this book covers Georgia O'Keeffe as a very modern woman of her time, exploring the ways she made bold, purposeful choices for herself, and how her personal aesthetic for herself and her home were deliberate choices that directly tied in to how she needed to express her visions in art. One fact I didn't realize until I read this book was how widely photographed she was, and how she developed a very specific look for photographs, probably based on the years with her famous photographer husband. She approached all portraits of herself as composed works of art. She was a fascinating woman and has been my favorite artist for years. If you love Georgia O'Keeffe, you'll really enjoy this (enormous!) book.
September 1, 2018
As an O'Keeffe fan, I've spent plenty of time with her art, and of course am familiar with the Stieglitz photos, but I never really thought about her personal style, nor how it was an integral part of her artistry. Corn does an excellent job laying out how O'Keefe's artistic sense was so fully integrated into every part of her life. I find it fascinating that she retained pieces of her wardrobe from across her entire life, and some of the examples of her own work as a seamstress took my breath away. Also, the evidence that she so tightly controlled the marketing of her image was really interesting. She was as admirable for being such a strong, intelligent woman as she was for being a brilliant artist.
March 3, 2019
Georgia O'Keeffe made art in every aspect of her life: her clothing, her home, her choices in how she presented herself to the world. This exhaustive and excellent catalog, related to the exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of a few years ago, chronicles her choices and her actions in making her clothes, her studio, and her preparations for photo shoots as much infused with her artistic sensibilities as her paintings. There are, of course, lots of photographs of her clothes, some of which she made herself, but also of her paintings, and how those visions were connected. It is a very splendid book, and all of its essays, most of which I skimmed, are thoughtful and well-documented.
May 30, 2017
I loved this book. Super familiar with O'Keeffe's work, but never delved into how her style of dress was it's own artistic statement. I don't usually read texts accompanying exhibitions, but I read every word of this one and am now hungry for more about O'Keeffe--how she lived, how she ate, all of it. Fascinating woman.
February 16, 2019
This book is all about O’Keeffe’s style of dress, her elegant house decor, and her simple lifestyle. Lots of photos of her — both portraits and casuals — make the case of how carefully she crafted her image.
September 23, 2024
Very extensive encyclopedia like book with much dedicated to her clothing and style.
I had hoped for more about her art as I was very interested after visiting the museum in Santa Fee, the Ghost ranch and Abiquiu.
It was just not what I expected.
I had hoped for more about her art as I was very interested after visiting the museum in Santa Fee, the Ghost ranch and Abiquiu.
It was just not what I expected.
August 26, 2017
This books was not as interesting as I expected, but that might be more a reflection of my interests than this book...
February 19, 2018
From another perspective to look into the artist's life and art. If you like Georgia,it is worth to read it.
April 9, 2025
Love Georgia O’Keeffe and fashion. This coffee table book has tons of interesting information on the artist and how fashion influenced her art. Wonderful photography. Definitely recommend.
April 16, 2022
The book described how O’Keefe’s choice in dress was not so far from the aesthetics of her art. The reproductions of her paintings are beautiful.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews