This weekend we set off back to the AGO to check out their latest exhibition - a retrospective of the art and legacy of Georgia O'Keeffe.
The Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit opened just last week, and features a collection of more than 80 works spanning her entire career. The paintings charted her progress as an artist, from early abstractions through to her famous flower paintings, and later desert scenes. As well as being a great introduction to an artist, it also acted as a kind of biography, as we followed her work from New York City, to Lake George, and finally New Mexico.
The story told also covered Georgia O'Keeffe's relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, a photographer and early promoter of American modern art. Stieglitz had been interested in O'Keeffe's work after a mutual friend had shown him a collection of her charcoal drawings. During the 1920s, the two lived and worked together in New York City, and a romantic relationship began to develop. Later, Stieglitz would put on an exhibit of his work that featured a number of intimate portrait photographs he had taken of O'Keeffe. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of Steiglitz's nude photos of O'Keeffe was that critics would henceforth assume that all of her abstract and floral paintings were an homage to the female form - an interpretation that she rejected. In the end, this would influence her move into more literal subject matter and away from vague, curvy forms.
O'Keeffe lived until she was 98, from 1887 to 1986, and had continued painting until the 1970s, when her eyesight began to deteriorate. Interestingly, she had never left the US until later in her life, when she began to travel around the world frequently. Her later work was inspired by those trips in an airplane.
There were no photos allowed in the exhibit, so we've tried to collect a few of the highlights below.
The story told also covered Georgia O'Keeffe's relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, a photographer and early promoter of American modern art. Stieglitz had been interested in O'Keeffe's work after a mutual friend had shown him a collection of her charcoal drawings. During the 1920s, the two lived and worked together in New York City, and a romantic relationship began to develop. Later, Stieglitz would put on an exhibit of his work that featured a number of intimate portrait photographs he had taken of O'Keeffe. Unfortunately, an unintended consequence of Steiglitz's nude photos of O'Keeffe was that critics would henceforth assume that all of her abstract and floral paintings were an homage to the female form - an interpretation that she rejected. In the end, this would influence her move into more literal subject matter and away from vague, curvy forms.
O'Keeffe lived until she was 98, from 1887 to 1986, and had continued painting until the 1970s, when her eyesight began to deteriorate. Interestingly, she had never left the US until later in her life, when she began to travel around the world frequently. Her later work was inspired by those trips in an airplane.
There were no photos allowed in the exhibit, so we've tried to collect a few of the highlights below.
...and thats it! No pictures of us this time but we'll surely be back next week!
In the meantime, why not check out what we were up to this time last year as we partied it up at the ROM on a Friday. Two years ago we were still roadtripping around Mexico!
In the meantime, why not check out what we were up to this time last year as we partied it up at the ROM on a Friday. Two years ago we were still roadtripping around Mexico!
