I think she's a superb modernist painter who managed to make flowers and landscapes look sensuous. She and Stieglitz were a powerful creative team. I hope to get to this show.
4
I went to the exhibit yesterday. The exhibit of the plants is wonderful. But I think O'Keefe's paintings are child like. If people hadn't been told they had been painted by O'Keefe, most people and critics would pan them. But the O'Keefe mystic lives on. The paintings were very disappointing. But the plants themselves are wonderful. I will take nature over O'Keefe's paintings any day.
2
Actually, distinguishing the work of a child artist from that of an adult artist is quite easy. It doesn't take training to do so; simply: see.
I'd bet you do not know that O'Keefe painted the kind of painters you'd probably enjoy, in her earlier works. One of the great bits of public ignorance, (and I claim this ignorance for myself in the past), is that an artist's work changes over time. No kidding. I blame a lot of this ignorance on the people who are in a position to educate the public about such things, and who do not, and I have no idea why anyone would want to encourage the denial of knowledge. But "art people" must derive great, almost perverse pleasure from doing so.
but I would also encourage you not to classify the enjoyment, or value of, artwork based on the age of the artist, nor the work's face-simplicity, nor intricacy.
Of all the art ever created, certainly it would not be O'Keeffes' that I would choose to live with. That does not lessen the importance of her work.
PS The word is "mystique."
2
My experience seeing these paintings was even further deepened when I got steered to read her letters to Stieglitz in this (available on-line) article, "Off in the Far Away: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Letters Home from Hawai‘i." Highly recommend.
4
I don't understand how a flower can be endangered. If one is uncommon, can't one just harvest seeds from it and grow more flowers? It's not like animals, where procreation is required, and perhaps one animal in the pair has a headache and doesn't want to. A flower doesn't mind if some of its seeds are taken. But this is a lovely story. I, too, was unaware that Ms O'Keeffe had a Hawaiian period. Thank you for informing me.
The seeds need to be pollinated if reproduction is to occur. A reduction in pollinators threatens plants.
3
I at first glance mistook the Waterfall #1 painting to be one of her Jack In the Pulpits, painted in the early 30s. Interesting how this artist can present objects and landscapes with equal intensity and abstraction.
3
Can't wait to make it to NYC to see these paintings. She's one of my favorite American painters. My first office art was a large print of her Lake George, and I've used her flowers in a sea side home. So serene, voluptuous and expressive.
4
How incredibly sumptuous these O'Keeffe paintings are! Her use of color, masterful stroke, and composition just bring to life these Hawaiian beauties--one can almost catch the fragrant scents offered by the flowers shown here. Having lived in New Mexico way back into the early 1970s, when Ms. O'Keeffe was still living in the state, I'm accustomed to her capture of our incredible high desert offerings for art. It's such a pleasure to find that this artist was so able to capture natural life wherever she found herself painting. Thank you for this informative article and for the art work!
2
I'm a bit confused. . . The caption under the portrait of Georgia O'Keeffe states that it was made by Harold Stein, a friend of her hosts Willis Jennings and his daughter Patricia. But Alfred Stieglitz, O'Keefe's husband, receives the photo credit.
So who is the actual photographer? It's one of the more natural portraits I have seen of O'Keeffe.
3
I think it states it’s in the Stieglitz/O’Keeffe archive, but the friend took the photo.
4
I believe that the photograph is held in the Alfred Stieglitz/Georgia O'Keeffe Archive in the Yale Collection--so the caption reads--a bit confusing, yes, but evidence that Stieglitz was not the photographer in this case.
2
"A safer field trip than visiting the Big Island where Kilauea won't stop erupting". Oh please, come on! Kilauea has been erupting for 35 years! It would really help us all on the Big Island if the media would stop catastrophizing. This is an island that depends on tourism, and the word has to get out that this is a big place (like the name, get it?), and most of us are not affected by the current lava flows that are happening in the far southeast corner of the island. Where I sit right now is the same distance from the eruption site as the Bronx is from Hartford, Conn. Everyday life here continues; Pele belches out new land like she has for thousands of years; O'Keefe's paradise is still far from lost. We invite you all to come find it.
26
So in-your-face beautiful. I'm hearing The Rite of Spring.
3
I love, love, love, love Georgia O'Keeffe's art!
These paintings of Hawaii are beautiful.
11
Having lived in Hawaii, and being an O'Keeffe fan, I love this article. Her Hawaiian paintings exude her trademark female sensuality.
9
These lush beauties complement her desert ones perfectly. I'm so glad that the exhibit lasts so long, hope to get back to NYC to see it before it is over...
13
I live in Florida, with its own history of artists passing through. The Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art in Daytona Beach has some fascinating examples. And of course our gardens have the same wonderful Caribbean, Central American, and Pacific plants, and palm gardens many of the same species (we have trouble with cold, a reason why our pineapple industry was short-lived).
Unfortunately, visitors to Hawaii today, unless they make a bit of effort, can miss the native plants and birds.
11
Certain plants and animals cannot be legally shipped to the US mainland from foreign countries and US island territories including the State of Hawaii (and vice versa) because the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) inspects, among other things, the baggage of travelers from those countries and islands . Proscribed species are seized.
4
I was fortunate to have been able to see these paintings at the Honolulu Museum of Art in the '90s when I happened to be in Honolulu and was not even aware of the exhibit.
What a lucky break as I was mesmerized and excited to see these earlier works . Have also experienced her museum in Santa Fe and several shows that have come to San Francisco over the years.
One of my favorite artists and happy these Hawaiian paintings are now being more widely shown.
24
I recently came across a book of O'Keefe's paintings of Hawaii at a library sale, published by the Honolulu Academy of Arts for a 1990 exhibition. This exhibit in NYC sounds wonderful and is perhaps an overdue chance for the public to see these paintings. I would love to see them in person, but I might just have to settle for looking at the book!
Here's some more about the pineapple from the book:
"O'Keefe saw the pineapple fields "all sharp and silvery stretching for miles off to the beautiful irregular mountains . . . . I was astonished - it was so beautiful." She mentioned . . . that she wanted to live near the fields and paint the pineapples. Since only field workers lived there, the company rejected her proposal despite O'Keefe's protests that she was a "worker" too and could live where she wished . . . Dole presented her with what she described as a "manhandled" pineapple in Honolulu. She was "disgusted with it" . . . and did not paint the fruit while in the islands."
26
It's interesting that the NYBG show and the Crystal Bridges show dates are so overlapping. It was nice Thursday night when I read about the Crystal Bridges show to find out how local the sponsorship was. It was nice of Mr. Hamilton to mention it in passing. Say what you want about Sam and Bud Walton and all their family, but I appreciate having the opportunity to see Georgia O'Keefe. The show itself requires purchase of a $10 ticket, but entrance to the museum is still free. Alice Walton has done herself proud with that museum. It's got its flaws and all, but it's real, and it's accessible, and it competes with the best of them. https://www.arktimes.com/RockCandy/archives/2018/05/24/the-beyond-works-...
7
The generosity of the $10 fee to see the special exhibit really stood out here, considering they are the richest family in the country.
3
Twenty paintings in nine weeks, or one every three days! No dilettante she lived to paint.
One of America's greatest artists! Her prints adorn my home; one abstract and one taken from the desert.
17
Wonderful. This is a national treasure. Actually, I must stand corrected, a universal treasure!
19
Any great contrasts are due to Nature, it has nothing to do with Georgia, she's just the messenger. Give rightful credit where it's due.
True, but Georgia's genius was to make us really SEE that beauty.
When I first had the opportunity to visit New Mexico, I was astonished that it looked EXACTLY like her paintings. I don't think I would have seen it as keenly if I hadn't seen the paintings first.
32
If you must, add Van Gogh to this comment and legions of other artists. The vision of the artist is what matters.
2
I've been to O'Keeffe's home in Abiquiu and consider myself pretty educated on her work, and even I had never heard of this series. What a wonderful discovery!
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