Introduction
When considering the key contributors to the evolution of the 20th-century art, one cannot overlook Georgia O’Keeffe with her incredible innovative perspe4ctive on painting and art, in general. In her article, Lissa A. Pounders discusses the symbolic significance of O’Keeffe’s paintings (18). Though the writer limits herself to the use of young’s theoretical frameworks as the means of approaching O’Keeffe’s art and developing an understanding of the artist, it still provides a way of gaining insight into mysterious art. Since O’Keeffe has been utilizing mystery as an artistic element successfully in order to attract the attention of every person within the industry, the narrative turns out to be especially useful to all those uninitiated. Although O’Keeffe’s art style incorporated a range of expressive methods, particularly the use of different art media, ranging from charcoal to paint, the artist managed to retain homogeneity in the composition and the distinctiveness of the stylistic elements of her paintings.
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Art
Introducing an opportunity to dive into the history of the movement and the art style in which O’Keeffe drew her pictures. Remarkably, even though O’Keeffe’s paintings cannot be described as belonging strictly to a specific genre, with most pieces representing the Modernist movement yet supported by elements of Precisionism, the specified perspective allows viewing the artworks in a nuanced and insightful perspective. Specifically, it becomes obvious that O’Keeffe managed to accomplish the unthinkable and combine the seemingly incompatible concepts in her artwork by allowing Precisionism and American Modernism to collide in her art pieces. As a result, the flow of the lines in the artworks and the bewildering choice of colors and silhouettes creates a mesmerizing and nearly unearthly out-of-this-world impression. The article in question will be used as the basis for the argument concerning O’Keeffe’s art style. Specifically, the paper will provide the foundation for discussing the specifics of O’Keeffe’s style and the key markers of Modernism, American Modernism, and Precisionism that it incorporated. Thus, the complete picture of the importance that O’Keeffe’s art pieces have produced on the evolution of American art, as well as visual art, in general, can be embraced.
Another important article contributing to the understanding of O’Keeffe’s perspective on art and her paintings’ belonging to a specific art movement, the paper by Wertz offers a dive into the unique characteristics of O’Keeffe’s paintings and the meaning that they convey. Namely, the article applies the pragmatic notion of truth to O’Keeffe’s art pieces. According to the authors., the artworks by O’Keeffe in a new meaning when scrutinized through the lens of the notion of Wohnung (dwelling) as rendered from the standpoint of Martin Heidegger (Wertz 52). Specifically, the aesthetic judgment that the specified perspective provides introduces an opportunity to view O’Keeffe’s paintings in a new way, namely, through the lens of the notion of “aesthetic union,” as the author defines it. As a result, O’Keeffe’s works are viewed not only through purely aesthetic lens, but also as a way of expression the social constraints of the time, therefore, breaking the rigid and stiff norms and transcending the established standards. Furthermore, the specified approach allows appreciating O’Keeffe’s innovation and authenticity even more as the importance of her creating a new framework for expression instead of relying on the traditional tools associated with either of the genres becomes apparent.
Remarkably, Hertz manages to incorporate an entirely new perspective into the analysis of O’Keeffe’s paintings. Namely, viewing the art pieces in question through the prism of pragmatism represents a new and quite refreshing approach to assessing O’Keeffe’s contribution to the genre. However, the article also suffers from the lack of references to O’Keeffe’s actual artworks. Although the focus on the analysis of the existing perspectives on the artist’s accomplishments is praiseworthy, observing a greater range of discussions of O’Keeffe’s actual works would have reinforced the statement that Wertz makes. Namely, the focus on the intellectual aspect of O’Keeffe’s works is contrasted to the idea of expressivity, which suggests that the two are barely compatible (Murray 4). However, in O’Keeffe’s works, the two coexist in complete harmony, which, once again, proves the artist’s unique talent of combining the elements that seemed to be entirely alien to one another, and, thus, producing an exceptionally expressive and emotionally resonant art piece.
Another essential aspect of the unique style that O’Keeffe created by allowing the Modernism, American Modernism, and Precisionism to collide, the use of crisp yet smooth lines and the integration of a unique color palette into the range of expressive tools for conveying the key message should be mentioned. The specified approach causes the audience to focus on the implicit message underlying the art pieces, which is dictated primarily by Modernism, while helping the viewer to remain in topic and avoiding wandering off to the areas of free interpretation. Specifically, the innate femininity reflected in the paintings in question is conveyed flawlessly with the help of the choice o the color scheme and the flowing lines, appealing to the traditional perception of the subject matter by a European and American viewer.
At the same time, it would be wrong to claim that O’Keeffe failed to subvert the stereotypical perception of femininity by portraying the traditional interpretation of the issue at hand. Quite the contrary, the use of flowing lines and colors in the paintings has allowed O’Keeffe to express the much-dreaded femaleness, particularly, emphasizing the biological aspects of womanhood (Pounders 28). As Pounders explains, the collision of femininity and expressive womanhood in O’Keeffe’s paintings laid the foundation for the controversy surrounding the paintings (29). However, when considering the factors that led to the described perception of O’Keeffe’s paintings, one must acknowledge the effects of Precisionism and Modernism on the development of the imagery and the choice of the outlines and color scheme that allowed making the art particularly daring in its selection of symbolic elements a and themes examined in the paintings. Namely, by injecting the elements of pragmatism into the art, O’Keeffe managed to represent the concept of womanhood unambiguously and uncompromisingly, allowing women to reconcile with it, while also representing the concept of aesthetic unity in her art pieces.
Conclusion
Though O’Keeffe’s art was represented by a broad range of media, the coherency in the message and the expressivity of the paintings remains coherent and homogenous due to the consistency in the stylistic choices that the artist selected as the means of conveying the key idea. As a result, the authenticity of the author’s perspective and approach toward expressing it remains especially high, allowing the audience to appreciate the uniqueness of the represented concepts. More importantly, the application of the specified tools allowed O’Keeffe’s leaving her art pieces nearly free to interpretation despite the integration of precisionism and, therefore, the use of smooth and clearly delineated elements in her pianists.
Works Cited
Murray, Kristina Rose. Engendered Modern the Urban Landscapes of Georgia O’Keeffe, Florine Stettheimer, and Bernice Abbott. Temple University, 2018.
Pounders, Lisa A. “Her “Symbols of the Desert”: An Emerging Alchemical Impression in the Bone Paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe.” Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies, vol. 14, 2019, pp. 16-29.
Wertz, S. K. “Visual Art and Pragmatic Truth: Georgia O’Keeffe at the Helm.” Journal of Aesthetic Education, vol. 55, no. 4, 2021, pp. 51-59.