Georgia O'Keeffe is an American artist who is considered an icon among 20th century artists. She challenged the boundaries of modern art style and was one of the main artists responsible for bringing the American style of art to Europe. Her representation of American landscape and cityscapes continues to inspire the art world today.
O'Keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887 and attended art school in Chicago and New York as a young adult. From there she spent time on and off, making art and attending additional art classes. In 1916, Alfred Stieglitz, a famous photographer and art impresario, saw some of her charcoal drawings and was incredibly impressed. He chose to show her art at an exhibition in New York. At the time, O'Keeffe was teaching art at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina, but she soon moved to join Stieglitz in New York. The two fell in love and were married in 1924.
In the late 1920s, O'Keeffe traveled in search of new places that could inspire her paintings. She visited New Mexico, was enthralled with its unique landscape, and decided to spend part of every year living there and painting her surroundings. She found a beautiful ranch in northern New Mexico called Ghost Ranch and purchased it in 1945. She moved to the ranch on a permanent basis in 1949, after Stieglitz's death.
O'Keeffe is best known for her paintings of flowers, rocks, shells, animal bones, and desert landscapes. She worked mostly in pencil and watercolor, but began using clay as a new art medium in the 1970's. In 1986, O'Keeffe passed away at the age of 98. She was still creating new art just weeks before she passed on, and her beautiful art lives on today.
