Georgia O'Keeffe

World of Art

by Lisa Mintz Messinger

For seven decades Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was a major figure in American art who, remarkably, maintained her independence from shifting artistic trends. She painted prolifically, and almost exclusively, the flowers, animal bones, and landscapes around her studios in Lake George, New York, and New Mexico, and these subjects became her signature images. Remaining true to her own unique artistic vision, she created a highly individual style of painting that synthesized the formal language of modern European abstraction and the subjects of traditional American pictorialism. Ever popular with American critics and the public since the first years of her career, O'Keeffe's reputation with contemporary audiences has expanded into the international arena. This comprehensive and illuminating new book surveys Georgia O'Keeffe's complete oeuvredrawings, watercolors, and paintings from all periodsand explains her life in the context of her artistic output. The accessible text provides in-depth analysis of her most important pictures and highlights the recurring themes and images that unite her large body of work. The discussion incorporates current scholarship and benefits from the recent publication of the artist's catalogue raisonne. O'Keeffe's relationships with fellow artists such as Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Paul Strand, and, especially, Alfred Stieglitz are also explored. It was not uncommon for her to adapt to her own artistic purposes specific images, themes, or compositions from other people's work, although her ideas more often paralleled, and sometimes even preceded, those of other artists. Throughout her long and productive life, Georgia O'Keeffe was emphatic in her belief that art could not be explained adequately with "Colors & line & shapes seem for me a more definite statement than words." Yet, despite her protestations, candid writings from every period exist in the artist's vast correspondence, and they are quoted here to provide greater understanding of her personality and her thoughts about art. 75 color and 75 b/w illustrations.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, Art History

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1988

Reviews

[Pat]

©2001 Personal collection

This book on O'Keeffe and her works was written by a scholar of her works. Color plates and black-and-white photographs are included, but not all are O'Keeffe's works. Some are included to show influencers of the times who MAY have influenced certain aspects of O'Keeffe's work. A fairly technical life overview.

[Susan]

Excellent book combining art historical analysis of Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings with her biography and place in American history and in the canon of art history. i learned so much from this book, read in conjunction with my trip to the O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe. I did not know O’Keefe graduated from high school in Virginia and taught at UVA. i had never seen her building painting nor considered her association with the artists Charles Sheeler and Arthur Dove. I learned a lot about her relationship with Steiglitz - how it inspired and stifled her. and her painting of the New Mexican landscape attained new meaning as I looked at them, read about them, and considered them in the context of the actual landscape.

[Feisty Harriet]

This is a little light on the feminist theory that I love so much when it comes to O'Keeffe, and she tends to keep the relationship pieces out of it almost completely (O'Keeffe's romantic relationships and her friendships), but Mintz Messinger crafts an otherwise fairly comprehensive biography of Georgia and my edition included pages of full color reproductions of O'Keeffe's artwork, some art from her contemporaries, and several pages of photographs.

[Melinda]

Read for library challenge -- last book! I liked the way this account focused on the art and gave details of O'Keeffe's life to explain/illustrate how her art evolved over time. Most of the works discussed are printed in color where appropriate. I loved that O'Keeffe traveled into her 90s and rafted down the Colorado at age 74. What an inspiration! My score would have been higher if the print wasn't so small and the pages weren't so glossy they were difficult to read because of the glare.

[James]

Short but solid overview of one of 20th-century America's most important artists. In under 100 pages it didn't have time to go into great depth, but even so there was a lot here, and a lot of clear colour illustrations too - not only of O'Keeffe's work but also of other artists in her milieu.

[Liliana Valenzuela]

This book is more about the art than the personality, although it gives the basics of her biography. The writing about art is clear, concise & illuminating, not always the case when describing art for the lay audience. Portable format with great, good quality illustrations in nice glossy paper.

[Eriel]

I didn't realize O'Keeffe also painted the NY skyline and other metro areas in addition to her natural work.

[Karyn]

Great overview of O'Keeffe's life and work.

[Patsy]

I thought this was very good. Her life intrigued me and encouraged me. I am doing more research about her and I love her art style. This is a good read!!

[Sally H.]

This is a Metropolitan Museum of Art book by Lisa Messinger. She references paintings by O"Keeffe that are owned by the Museum as well as other paintings. Great pictures of O'Keeffee's work. I have owned this book for over 25 years and reread it again because of PEO Book Club's reading of "Georgia"