Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American artist. Born near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, O'Keeffe first came to the attention of the New York art community in 1916, several decades after women had gained access to art training in America’s colleges and universities, and before any of its women artists were well known or highly celebrated. Within a decade, she had distinguished herself as one of America's most important modern artists, a position she maintained throughout her life. As a result, O’Keeffe not only carved out a significant place for women painters in an area of the American art community that had been exclusive to and is still dominated by men, but also she had become one of America’s most celebrated cultural icons well before her death at age 98 in 1986.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_O%27Keeffe
I have to admit right from the beginning that Georgia O'Keefe
is one of my favorite artists bar none! I can’t remember where or when I first discovered her work, but I can say she just knocked me out from my first look. I can remember a time where I really wanted to emulate her style in my own work. One of the things that drew me to her work during my college years was seeing a superb film on her art and her life, which narrated by her. She had such strong opinions and philosophy about art that it elevated her work to me by giving me a feeling that you somehow knew her and her art on a personal level. I later showed that same film in my own classes, when I was teaching at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. My students seemed always to get a lot out of seeing that film. That film inspired many students to new levels of creativity. I’m sure that most of you know her work already, but I hope you might take some time and revisit it again. Her subjects varied but a few themes were dominant. Her skulls and bones, (which my photo references) her large flowers and New Mexico landscapes are indelibly linked to her work.
I was also always fascinated by her marriage to Alfred Stieglitz who was one of the most important photographers of the early twentieth century. In addition he became one of the first promoters of photography as fine art. Together the pair had and continues to have a profound influence on fine art.
http://thismamamakesstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/OKeeffe_Georgia_Rams_Head.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nugazBY6SYg/TCTGI0W22_I/AAAAAAAAN-g/5y9EMIEp1Jk/s400/GEORGIA+O%27KEEFE-Skull

http://blairpeter.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/okeefe374.jpg

O’Keefe flower: http://georgiaokeefefacts.com/
New Mexico landscape: