Becoming O'Keeffe: The Early Years

by Sarah Whitaker Peters

Traces the life of the American artist up to the time that she moved to the Southwest, focusing on her studies in Chicago and New York and her relationship with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz

Genres: Biography, Art

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1991

Reviews

[Michael]

This book analyzes O’Keefe’s work in her pre-New Mexico period, up to 1929. I’m not an art critic or art historian so much of the author’s commentary was over my head, but the principal message of the book was that much of O’Keefe’s early work was inspired by photography, principally by Alfred Stieglitz, whom O’Keefe married in 1924, and by Paul Strand and Edward Steichen, among others. The author describes what she sees as elements of O’Keefe’s paintings that mimic photographic techniques, and she reproduces a number of photographs that she then claims were adapted by O’Keefe into paintings. In most of these cases, there is scant evidence, but for the author’s speculations, for her conclusions. Statements from O’Keefe acknowledging the role of photography in inspiring her is conspicuously absent from the narrative. In many cases it is uncertain whether O’Keefe even saw the photographs that allegedly inspired her. I lost count of the number of the times that the author stated that it was “possible” that certain photographs inspired O’Keefe’s work. I began to wonder why it was so important for the author to attribute the creative decisions of this renowned female artist to the male photographers in her circle. But, as I said, I’m not an expert.

The commentary aside, the reproductions of O’Keefe’s paintings in the book were gorgeous and inspired me to try to study O’Keefe in more detail, perhaps in a source that relied on O’Keefe, rather than Stieglitz, to explain the painter’s thinking. And just to be clear, my inspiration to read further was based on O’Keefe’s paintings, not the photographs also found in the book.

[Patricia]

I recently attended an event where Leslie Goddard, PhD, performed a historical portrayal of Georgia O'Keeffe. I was fascinated by her insight and had been to Santa Fe and Taos, NM so I had a solid appreciation for her work. I now have a a solid appreciation for her life and how she became such a confident and independent woman artist. This book covers Georgia O'Keeffe's time in Chicago and New York which was a part of her story that was unknown to me until I heard the presentation. I read this in tandem with another book, "Georgia O'Keeffe - Art and Letters". The Georgia O'Keeffe exhibits at The Art Institute of Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Museum are definitely worth a revisit after hearing the presentation and reading these books.

[John Huzinec]

Interesting but at times I thought i was reading a book on alfred stieglitz gallery 291 and cameraworks

[Susan]

Not an easy read, but worth the effort to understand how O'Keeffe's artistic style evolved along with her life-choices. This book focusses on the years pre-New Mexico and helped me realize the influence of Steiglitz' from early-1900's-1930 on her work was a 2-way street, and often it was the photographer using her paintings to inspire his own compositions.

[Julia]

This is a special book because it was one of the first presents I got from my now husband when we first started dating a few eons ago.

[Joy]

Good book, lots of detail. It is not a fast read, but it is well done.