Georgia O’Keeffe, American Phenomenon

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Georgia O’Keeffe, American Phenomenon Have you ever heard of Georgia O’Keeffe? The name Georgia O’Keeffe is immediately recognized by the general public, and will not be forgotten by the art world. Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) is an American Modernist known for her sublime work, fame, fortune, and influence. In his book What’s American About American Art, Henry Adams describes O’Keeffe as “one of the most important American modernists” and “the world’s most significant woman artist”. It is said that her iconic power began with her life as an independent American woman not confined by convention. Georgia O’Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie Wisconsin. She studied many places including the Art Institute of Chicago, and New York where she met her future husband Alfred Stieglitz, one of the most noted American Modernist photographers. Her popularity started in the 1910s and continued throughout her life becoming one of the most photographed figures of her generation, and “the first woman who could be possessed by the masses” (Faraway Nearby). O’Keeffe stepped outside of the traditional role of a woman and a muse through her work. She left the realm of traditional thought and stepped into a new realm of modern thinking, becoming the “first major American woman artist” (Faraway Nearby). O’Keeffe preferred intuition and inspiration. Her emotionally charged work consisted of loose abstractions and representative pieces that through their use of line, color, light, and form embodied the sublime. Her work went beyond the use of visual symbols and celebrated objects. The American Modernists used the sublime as a method to define what it meant to be an American. Through man-made objects and forward thinking, artists tried to embody America, but O’Keeffe did so through the untamed and untouched America. Her works “depicted personalized views of nature that emerged

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