Georgia O’Keefe (1887-1986) is renowned for her flower paintings and during her lifetime became an American icon. However, in a career spanning more than seven decades her work encompassed a variety of subject matter, ranging from the purely abstract to detailed representation. Her life story and career as an artist is very interesting; you can read and see more about her here: https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/about-georgia-okeeffe/
I first saw Georgia O’Keefe’s art at a large retrospective of her work at the Hayward Gallery in London in 1993. I must admit, it was not her large flower paintings that made the biggest impression on me, but her small watercolours that she made as a young artist. However, the whole exhibition had me inspired – her vibrant watercolours, sensuous charcoal abstractions, dramatic cityscapes at night, huge glorious flowers and vast desert scenes of New Mexico. I bought the catalogue which has been well used as a resource for myself and my students over the years.
| “Nobody sees a flower, really, it is so small. We haven’t time – and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time. If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So I said to myself – I’ll paint what I see – what the flower is to me but I’ll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it – I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers. …Well, I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower – and I don’t.“ |
| – Georgia O’Keeffe |
Georgia O’Keefe’s contemporaries, encouraged by her husband Alfred Sieglitz, saw something erotically suggestive in her flower paintings. However, she always insisted that what she was painting was their beauty – to capture their colours, their intricacies. Whichever view you take, flowers are by nature part of the reproductive cycle so there’s probably no surprise that blown-up on a huge scale they can look a bit sensual and racy!
There has since been another retrospective of O’Keefe’s work at the Tate Modern in London in 2016, marking 100 years since her work was first exhibited in New York. Seeing her work again in real life renewed my admiration for her drawings and paintings and it is the large scale of the flower paintings that makes them so impactful. So once I started on my own flower studies, I realised I also needed to increase the scale (originally I had intended to make small quick studies and produce A5 to A4 handmade screen prints) and extend the time frame to complete the project.
Despite having been a fan of O’Keefe’s since the early 1990s, only now do I feel compelled to focus on flowers as a big subject matter for my art. Perhaps it’s because we’re living in a time of deep uncertainty in the world and that flowers can be a source of hope and joy. When they appear, bursting out of their buds, it does feel a little miraculous – their bright colours and pretty shapes tell us that not all is bad in this world, that there is beauty to be found and nature will prevail! Just seeing our patch of lawn lit up with vibrant yellow dandelions in the Spring makes me smile 🙂
50 Flowers for 50 Charities 