Georgia O’Keeffe, dubbed the mother of American Modernism, was an artist known for her paintings of New York skyscrapers, New Mexico landscapes, and – most famously – flowers. O'Keeffe's emotions were the driving force for her interpretations of nature and her painting style, which simplified the shapes and formations of landscapes and made her a pioneer.
Born in 1887 in Sun Prarie, Wisconsin, O’Keeffe studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Students League of New York, the University of Virginia, and Columbia University’s Teachers College. She was an art teacher from 1911 to 1918 and worked in schools and colleges in South Carolina, Virginia, and Texas. It was during this time that she completed a series of charcoal drawings that were based on her own sensations and emotions.
Her career went in a new direction after the drawings were sent to New York gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz, a prominent photographer who owned the 291 Gallery. At his behest, O’Keeffe moved to New York to become a full-time artist. She continued to paint flowers, and her work grew into the large-scale pieces for which she is best known. She also took advantage of the views from a 30th-floor apartment, producing a series of paintings of the city’s skyscrapers and skyline. These dramatic depictions helped established her reputation as an innovative modern artist.
In 1929, O’Keeffe took a lengthy visit to New Mexico to deal with physical and emotional health issues. She fell in love with the desert landscapes and sun-bleached animal bones, which influenced her paintings. O’Keeffe said that the bones symbolized the eternal beauty of the desert.
From the 1950s into the 1970s, O’Keeffe traveled around the world, including the Far East, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and Europe. The airplane trips inspired paintings of aerial views of rivers and images of the sky above the clouds.
O’Keeffe, unfortunately, lost most of her eyesight to macular degeneration and stopped painting in 1972. After her death, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum was established in Santa Fe. In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.