Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1936 painting “Jimson Weed” is located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

By Darla McCammon
and DeeAnna Muraski
Guest Columnists

WARSAW — The artist in our current American Art series, who we are discussing this week, is a true-blooded American. She was the eldest girl in a family of seven children and never left the United States until she was in her late 60s.

Georgia O’Keeffe was one of the great American artists of the 20th century. Born in 1887, she lived through the stock market crash, the Great Depression, the Cold War, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and women winning the right to vote. All of which played a part in the development of her art.

Like many of the burgeoning artists of this time, O’Keeffe felt compelled to use art as her mental outlet. At first, she was reticent to share what she felt was an intimate glimpse into her soul. With everything the world was experiencing, it seemed to be a healthy way to manage the very real feelings of anxiety and perpetual change. Like Jackson Pollock, O’Keeffe also preferred a large expansive canvas. Even with the massive canvases, she still felt confined to express all she wanted to say with words onto the artwork.

Her desire to express herself led to her creation of synaesthesia — the effect of blending music and art. Many of her paintings suggested movement indicative of undulating musical scales and figures dancing about the page. O’Keeffe was not musical and in fact had difficulty singing in key, another reason she liked the outlet of the paintbrush. Synaesthesia was an about-face from the traditional European art depicting elaborate extremely detailed portraiture posed in exacting fashion. While she did not spend time in other countries, she still continued to be well informed of the work done by international photographers and artists. Because she had spent so much time with photographers, Alfred Steiglitz with whom she had a long open love affair then eventually married, and Paul Strand, she desired that her artwork depict subtleties that the eye could not see when photographed one-dimensionally. For example, O’Keeffe’s still-life painting “Apple Family,” which on first blush reflects a basket of apples, was in fact depicting the large Stieglitz family on holiday; I guess they can be glad they were not watermelons.

While she experimented with many different mediums — charcoal, pastels, oil and pencil — her favorite was watercolor. And the influence of Wassily Kandinsky’s color theories and abstract spirituality are evidenced in most of her paintings. O’Keeffe is most well known for finding her voice with floral painting in oil. It hit a nerve with Americans who were desperate to see the beauty in a world seemingly so war-torn.

O’Keeffe passed away in 1986 and continued painting well into her 90s even when she was too frail to walk and nearly blind. She had previously been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977) and the National Medal of Arts (1985). She was a woman way before her time and did not only break the path for women in the 20th century man’s world but also paved it.

Upcoming Events

Fine Arts Festival: Thursday, May 9, 6-9 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Warsaw Community High School. Juried art exhibit, student poetry, performances by the high school Jazz Band, choral, theater and orchestra students, culinary arts appetizers and desserts, student demos of art techniques and live acoustic performances in the lobby. Free and open to the public.

Warsaw City Hall Art Gallery: New exhibitor Brenda Ramseier. City Hall is located at 102 S. Buffalo St. in downtown Warsaw. The exhibits are on the first floor and the building is handicapped-accessible. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Stop by on your lunch break. You will not want to miss seeing Brenda’s talent on display.

Darla McCammon is an artist, columnist and author. DeeAnna Muraski is executive director of Operation Read USA Inc. Send an email to the mother/daughter team at either [email protected] or [email protected].