“I get out my work and have a show for myself before I have it publicly. I make up my own mind about it–how good or bad or indifferent it is. After that the critics can write what they please. I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.” Quote by the late Georgia O’Keeffee.
I recently took an art course and was exposed to an artist by the name of Georgia O’Keeffe. Our discussions on this particular individual and her artwork sparked much controversy. I thought for my final blog I would gauge the reaction of my fellow classmates.
Georgia O’Keeffe was a key female artist in American art from the 1920s. “She spent much of her life trying to escape attempts by critics and well-meaning public to read her life in her work.” (302) Apparently, “critics” back in that era were just like our modern day Paparazzi.
Today, many critics are still struggling to label this artist. Many try to place her in a category of progressives, while others fight to uphold her name and artwork as being conservative. She is just one of the many women that are scrutinized in the media for a talent that others feel the need to interpret.
Please take a look at the following website where you can view many of O’Keeffe’s works of art.
http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS331US332&q=georgia+o’keeffe&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=PYb4So-iB83ElAff6v3xCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQsAQwAA
Do you view these works of art as sexual in nature or are they beautiful, vibrant, feminine and innocent in nature?
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/O/okeefe.html
Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. New York: Thames & Hudson, Inc., 2007.
January 4, 2010 at 3:14 pm |
I find O’Keeffe’s work to be highly sexualized and very evocative. I used to have a poster, and now have a mouse pad of a poppy she did. I wouldn’t the paintings themselves media, but the fact that you can get such a mouse pad (or tote bag or t-shirt) says a lot about our pop culture society and the way it’s even coopted “fine art,” which is supposed to be something separate.