Georgia O’Keefe is said to be the “Mother of American Modernism”. This movement was associated with a period of change specifically referring to culture, society, and politics. Georgia O’Keeffe’s artwork was largely influenced by these things. Her background also played a pivotal role in influencing her art and career. She was college-educated, which was still uncommon at the time. This gave her art a technical edge since she spent some time studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Art Students League located in New York. She married Alfred Stieglitz in 1924 He was the first person to display her work, as he was an art dealer. This played a great role in getting her work out to the public. 

 

O’Keeffe’s art was also influenced widely by the development and knowledge of technology. She was inspired by Paul Strand’s use of close up photography. This idea of “macro photography” was and still is continuing to develop. This type of “close cropping” photography is what inspired Georgia O’Keeffe to make her series of flower paintings. These paintings were often cropped so closely that they became abstract. She went on to create over 200 of these paintings. In a similar way, the development of the New York City skyline was a large influence. In her New York apartment, she watched the construction of skyscrapers and was inspired by the architecture. She painted many paintings from the window of her apartment on the 30th floor. There is a noticeable change in these paintings over time. They begin with an emphasis on the city lights and turn into hazy cityscapes. This is probably due to events such as the great depression but more likely because she was growing out of living in the city, and didn’t enjoy it as much as she used to. This leads to her moving to New Mexico permanently.

 

O’Keeffe travels to New Mexico for the first time in 1929 and continues to do so almost every year for a long period of time. These trips inspired her to take her art in a new direction. In New Mexico, she was vastly influenced by the art of t Native Americans and Hispanic cultures. Her experiences with Native American and Hispanic Cultures influenced her color and compositional choices predominantly in her work. The landscapes of New Mexico were her main source of inspiration and reference for many of her paintings including, “Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico” and “Pelvis Series Red With Yellow”. 

 

But most of all Georgia O’Keeffe’s artwork was largely influenced by the feminist movement going on at the time. She became known as the “foremother of the feminist art movement”. This field was largely dominated by males at the time so she was one of the few women pioneering in the arts. Her large paintings of flowers are thought to have symbolized femininity. Her paintings were also thought to inspire creativity that could lead to activism. Even the choice in colors “such as pastels and grays was an intrinsically feminine choice”. The color choice and the subject matter being flowers are both very symbolically feminine.

 

Whether it was political, personal, or societal all of these factors determined the style and subject matter of Georgia O’Keeffe artwork. More specifically, Influences from New Mexico, Native American, and Hispanic art, technological advancements, her background, and feminism. O’Keeffe created a vast body of work over her life and is considered to be one of the most influential female artists in her time.