It's Women's History Month. 

This entire month, we're celebrating by introducing you to some of the greatest women artists, muses, and trailblazers in art.

This week, we're exploring the lasting impact of Wisconsin-native Modernist Georgia O'Keeffe. Join us as we discover her unique style and her famous floral paintings.

Georgia O'Keeffe is remembered for her macro closeups of flowers and abstracted landscapes. 

Poppy by Georgia O'Keeffe

You can recognize her oversized canvas masterpieces immediately—smooth, flowing compositions, pastel or vibrant oil paint, and an appreciation for natural forms all point to O'Keeffe...But what made this artist from the mid-west stand out while others faded into obscurity? What elevated her bold, sensual canvases from art to High Art? And how did Georgia O'Keeffe come to be known as "The Mother of American Modernism?" 

Georgia O’Keeffe always knew she wanted to be an artist.

Black and Purple Petunias by Georgia O'Keeffe

She spent her childhood on her parent's farm in Wisconsin, picking and painting flowers. Her mother encouraged her interests, championing her to educate herself at the Art Institute of Chicago at only 17. Here, rigorous studies in light, shape, color fascinated her. At the same time, capstone subjects like realism and faithfully representing reality bored her terribly. 

Georgia later moved to New York, where she continued her learning. She became acquainted with more modern styles and techniques she'd later adopt as signatures in her own work. It’s here that Georgia also experimented and even pioneered many of the characteristics of American Modernism—an art movement that tended to abstraction and depicting modern society in a brighter, more positive life than its earlier counterparts.

Still, it wasn't until she was formally introduced to Alfred Stieglitz that her professional career really took off.

Alfred Stieglitz & Georgia O’Keeffe

Black Iris by Georgia O'Keeffe

Stieglitz became an immediate fan of O'Keeffe's work and even staged her first gallery show in 1916. The two grew close, eventually marrying, and Stieglitz displayed her work in his gallery every year until he died in 1946. After his passing, Georgia relocated permanently to New Mexico and took to painting landscapes from her home, Ghost Ranch, in Abiquiu.

Ghost Ranch in New Mexico by Panoramic Images

Prior to Stieglitz’s death, Georgia spent much of her time traveling between New York and Lake George. She loved painting the city fauna and countryside flora at the Stieglitz property upstate. This lead her to depicting flowers in her work, taking inspiration from the budding medium of photography to zoom in on the gauzelike petals of some and robust sepals of others. 

The public loved these floral creations, admiring their rich color palettes and familiarity. 

But fellow artists and critics had a field day analyzing every canvas, many comparing her subjects' sensual curves and folds to...*ahem* privy parts—some going as far as to suggest the paintings were a study of the artist's OWN anatomy.

O’Keeffe was keenly aware of these criticisms in her lifetime and repeatedly denied the connection, but still, the rumors persisted.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Legacy

Petunia by Georgia O'Keeffe

Throughout her life, Georgia demanded her work be respected for its merit and for her work as an artist. She resented the establishment calling her a ‘woman’ before artist, insisting that accomplishments as an artist weren’t tied to her gender. To Georgia, the term ‘woman artist’ was as redundant as ‘wet water’ or ‘frozen tundra’…there was no mistaking that women could be artists, she was one! And a far better one than many of her New York colleagues, at that.

Even though O’Keeffe resented the term, the fact remains that it is one of vital importance. Georgia O’Keeffe pushed the boundaries of looking and seeing; feeling and painting, doing what few painters before her had managed. Her expressive canvases bridged the gap between her internal life and the external world while depicting the rhythms and forms of nature. Her remarkable life, funded entirely by her work as an artist, paved the way for others to follow in her footsteps during a time when being a woman artist was not seen as a practical career path. It’s thanks to women like Georgia, who proved to everyone that women can and were artists just as much as their male counterparts, that women artists today can follow their dreams. 

Two Jimson Weeds by Georgia O'Keeffe

That’s all we have on Georgia O’Keeffe. We’ll cover another woman artist next week, so stay tuned for more insight to the women who made the art world a better place for us all.