O’Keeffe at the University of Virginia, 1912–1914 is an exhibition of watercolors
that
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Amer ...
created over three summers in the early 20th century at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
. Shown at the
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum
The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is dedicated to the artistic legacy of Georgia O'Keeffe, her life, American modernism, and public engagement. It opened on July 17, 1997, eleven years after the artist's death. It comprises multiple sites in two locat ...
in
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...
, the exhibit opened November 4, 2016 and ran through September 10, 2017. A year later, on October 19, 2018, the exhibition opened at the
Fralin Museum of Art
The Fralin Museum of Art is an art museum at the University of Virginia. Before 2012, it was known as the University of Virginia Art Museum. It occupies the historic Thomas H. Bayly Building on Rugby Road in Charlottesville, Virginia, a short dis ...
on the grounds of the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, where it remained on display until January 27, 2019.
The works reflect her early development as an
abstract art
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...
ist, influenced by design principles of
Arthur Wesley Dow
Arthur Wesley Dow (1857 – December 13, 1922) was an American painter, printmaker, photographer and an arts educator.
Early life
Arthur Wesley Dow was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1857. Dow received his first art training in 1880 from An ...
. Through her exploration and growth as an artist, she helped to establish the
American modernism movement
and has been called the "Mother of American modernism".
Background
In 1908, O'Keeffe had become discouraged about creating representative works of art, her mother's poor health, her father's bankruptcy,
and, later, her parents' separation.
Losing interest in pursuing a career as an artist and unable to fund her education, she took a job as a graphic artist and then became a teacher. For a four-year period, she did not paint.
In the summer of 1912, she enrolled in an art class at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, the only time of year that women could attend the school.
Alon Bemet, a
Columbia University Teachers College
Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...
faculty member, led the class that introduced innovative ideas of Arthur Wesley Dow that were based upon
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It ...
design and composition principles. That summer she began to experiment with abstract compositions.
O'Keeffe then taught during the school year, and returned for two more summers to take and teach classes at the university. During that time she stayed in her mother's boarding house in Charlottesville.
She studied with Dow in the spring of 1914 at Teachers College of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
Overview
O'Keeffe mastered painting with the watercolors, using hand-ground pigments.
She experimented with design, like using trees and shrubs to frame a painting.
One of the exercises from Dow's book, ''Composition'', is to create "a landscape, reduced to its main lines, all detail being omitted", like the way O'Keeffe excluded doors from some of the compositions.
In her works, she simplified forms, experimented with composition, with the goal of creating a harmonious design and expressing her interpretation of the natural world. "The compositions are simple and refined, with flattened shapes, minus the frills and minute details of
representationalism
In the philosophy of perception and philosophy of mind, the question of direct or naïve realism, as opposed to indirect or representational realism, is the debate over the nature of conscious experience;Lehar, Steve. (2000)The Function of Consc ...
," according to Kathaleen Roberts of the ''Albuquerque Journal''.
The watercolors, made on 11 7/8 x 9 inch (30.2 x 22.9 cm) paper, were held by O'Keeffe until her death and are now in the collection of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.
Dow's influence
In 1915, O'Keefe had an epiphany that changed the way she created art from that time forward, based upon what she had learned from Dow:
Rather than representing what she saw, O'Keeffe developed radical charcoal drawings, with just a few lines, that led to greater development of total abstraction.
In watercolor, she explored circular shapes and beginning in 1916, she created abstract landscapes of "bold and ethereal horizontal bands of color."
References
Further reading
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{{DEFAULTSORT:O'Keeffe at the University of Virginia, 1912-1914
1914 paintings
1912 paintings
1913 paintings
University of Virginia
Paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe