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| Georgia O'Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz |
Georgia O'Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz met in 1916, he was 52 years old famous photographer and 28 years old Georgia was an unknown artist.
Alfred Stieglitz studied engineering in Germany in 1886. Then in 1880 he came back to New York where he was part of Camera Club. Later on Stieglitz formed new Photo Secession group because some policies in previous club were to restrictive. He always supported photography and from 1903 to 1917 he edited the "Camera Work" publication. In his work we can see some element of Cubism when he tried to capture everyday life. By his "straight photography" he showed the reality which was a revolution in photography and photography begin to be seen as the art form.
The "Sun Rays, Paula" is a black and white photography where Stieglitz beautifully captured the Sun coming trough the window. The contrast of tones and shades creates ideal image of the woman scrapbooking on the table. Scrapbooking was very popular in Victorian times, people did this to collect their memories.
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Alfred Stieglitz
Venice, 1894, printed 1929/1934 |
The "Venice" is beautify shot picture with the Sun coming across the washing lines in an early morning light. It is an interesting evidence of people who are not on the picture.
When Alfred Stieglitz met Georgia O'Keefe he was 52 and he exactly knew what he wants to do in life, he wanted to do realistic photographs. They met when Georgia came to see exhibition of Marsden Hartley. Stieglitz was married at this time and at the beginning they wrote thousand of letters to each other, sometimes 3-4 a day. Georgia O'Keefe was American painter, the firs female painter who achiever worldwide applaud from the critics. She creates innovative , impressionist images which evolved constantly throughout her career. studied Art in Chicago, then in New York. Stieglitz used to photographed Georgia while his wife was away. That time he was unhappy in his marriage and the divorce process took 6 years when Georgia and Alfred lived together. During this time Georgia painted abstract flowers in oil, what she became famous for. her paintings were often interpreted as asexual reference to the female body parts which Georgia don't like. They got married in 1924 and often visited Stieglitz's family in Mexico when Georgia loved to return after his death. He died in 1946 in New York.
Georgia O'Keefe became popular thanks to Stieglitz, his photographs and her beautiful paintings. Her popularity continued to rise after Stieglitz death. She came back to New Mexico where she continued painting, however her painting has changed and she started painting landscapes of New Mexico, spending hours on sun and wind. Inspired by beautiful mountain landscapes and the view from the aeroplane window. When Georgia O'Keefe died at age of 98, she requested that her ashes be scatted at the top of the mountain.
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| Georgia O'Keefe Flower of life II, 1925 |
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Georgia O'Keeffe Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 1932
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Georgia O'Keeffe Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico 1930 |
Photos reference :
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/50771 [Accessed: 11.02,22]
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.35278.html [Accessed: 11.02.22]
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/georgia-okeeffe [ Accessed: 11.10.22]
https://globallovemuseum.net/portfolio-items/alfred-stieglitz-and-georgia-okeeffe/#iLightbox[gallery_image_1]/6 [Accessed: 11,02,22]
I don't think you can place O'Keefe's success with the influence of Stieglitz only - she was very independent and in many ways a fearless artist, that ultimately didn't need his influence. Otherwise some decent insights into the work of both artists, although I would have liked to see you dig deeper into the work of O'Keeffe and perhaps talk about it's influence on Graphic Design (use of flat, graphic colour, composition of her images and so on.)
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