Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887-1986: Flowers in the desert

by Britta Benke

This volume traces the career of American painter, Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986). The illustrations document the most important periods in her life.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Womens, Art Design, Art History

95 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Britta Benke, born in 1960, studied art history, classical archaeology and romance languages and literature in Göttingen, Münster and Bonn. Georgia O'Keeffe is the main focus of her research and also the subject of her dissertation.

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pioneer of Modern Art, Georgia O'Keeffe created large-scale paintings of natural forms and flowers at close range. She began to spend much of her time in New Mexico and created imagery synonymous with the American Southwest. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1985 and died in 1986 at the age of 98.

Source: https://www.biography.com/video/georg...

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tinha coisas na minha cabeça que não se assemelhavam às que alguém me tivesse ensinado - formas e ideias tão próximas de mim - tão naturais à minha maneira de ser e de pensar que não me ocorreu reprimi-las. Decidi começar mais uma vez - despojar-me do que tinha aprendido - aceitar como verdadeiro o meu próprio pensamento. (...) Eu estava sozinha e singularmente livre, a trabalhar no meu íntimo desconhecido - ninguém para satisfazer a não ser a mim própria.

[Madelyn]

I only really knew O'Keeffe for her flower paintings prior to reading this. The variety in her work was really interesting to learn about and I love how active she was almost up until her death at the age of 98.

[Alejandro Teruel]

Una excelente introducción a la impactante obra de la pintora estadounidense Georgia O'Keefe. Ella fue la primera mujer pintora a quien el Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) le dedicó una retropectiva.

Más conocida en primer lugar por sus cuadros de gran formato de flores vistas muy de cerca y que llegó a simplificar de tal manera que en ocasiones cruza la frontera a la abstracción, y en segundo lugar por sus cuadros de gran formato en que destaca un cráneo en primer plano sobre un paisaje del colorido desierto de Nuevo México, también pintó otras series que aunque no me eran conocidas, son igualmente impactantes, como lo son su serie sobre los rascacielos de Nueva York, los huesos de pelvis de animales contra el cielo de Nuevo México, una puerta en el muro de adobe de su casa en Nuevo México o su serie sobre "vistas aéreas" de ríos.

O'Keefe tuvo una larga y productiva vida -murió a los 98 años y se le han catalogada más de dos mil obras.

La calidad de las reproducciones del libro es impecable, en la mejor tradición de libros Taschen, y el texto de Britta Benke es ameno, cuidadoso e interesante. Se incluye una breve pero excelente selección de reproducciones de fotos del conocido fotógrafo Alfred Stiegliz con quien estuvo casada, así como reproducciones de fotos y cuadros de otros artistas contemporáneos con ella que ayudan a entender mejor su relación con otros pintores y fotógrados y sus fuentes paisajísticas de inspiración.

Benke explica muy bien por qué se le considera una figura entre el abstraccionismo y el realismo. Me llamó la atención su insistencia en describir la obra de O'Keefe como "romántica" hasta que entendí que efectivamente lo que tiene de romántico es una desmesura, el amor por la naturaleza, en particular por el desierto y una percepción del mundo como sublime, misterioso y majestuoso. Sin embargo, no por ello, O'Keefe deja de ser una pintora modernista, contemporánea, vital y de impactante originalidad.

[Quiver · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nothing is less real than realism. [...] It is only by selection, be elimination, by emphasis that we get at the real meaning of things."
—A maxim of O'Keeffe (1922)

An informative, biography-oriented introduction to O'Keeffe's work, though the wonderful reproductions encourage picture-gazing over reading.

[Feisty Harriet · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this book are the full color reproductions of artwork from throughout O'Keeffe's life, the biographical contents are pretty light, and the detail of her career skip many important pieces. I suppose, for as short as it is (88 pages, and that includes all the art) there wasn't much else that could have been included, although I could have done without the critique of her painting, endowing it with feelings of the critiquer and not necessarily the artist (an attitude O'Keeffe repeatedly is frustrated by throughout her life).

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short book but filled with O'Keefe's paintings from throughout her life.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures. It is nice that include her works, those of who inspired her and were during things at the same time to set some context. There are also some photographs of her and her surroundings that she made more abstract pictures of so there is a comparison.

This book does not analyze her paintings very much in terms of sexual interpretations as so many have in the past. She denied that her paintings were inspired by that or she was trying to convey that. Instead, she insisted that her paintings were more abstract and enlargements of things to better able to express the true nature of things. Her focus was more on the form of things, how that made her feel and her attempts to distill that feeling into a representation a viewer would be able to relate to (simplified in my own words). It is appropriate to analyze her works according to what she says she was trying to convey.

[Jordi Gran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every assumption I had about O'Keeffe's work was essentially wrong —namely, the sensual connotations of her works. Britta Benke's essay sheds some light on a generally misunderstood artist, who loved dipping into her inner voice through the objects and landscapes around her. She worked in series and focused on simple subjects, one motif at a time, often elongating these themes for several years in a row.

[Annice Burdeos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear concise chronicling of O'keefe's life and the effect of her surroundings on her paintings particularly the time spent in New Mexico. Having seen and attended exhibitions of her work both in Los Angeles and New York, the book provided additional information of which I was appreciative to learn.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read another book in the Taschen art series, and this one blew that one out of the water. A quick, enjoyable read which gave me a nuanced idea of what O'Keeffe was all about, from beginning to end. I feel in love with O'Keeffe through this book.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muito interessante.

[Chris Wilby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illustrations and her life story

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

More than flowers, O’keeffe’s desert depictions are actually my favorite. This short read gave more context to her life and works and introduced me to some I didn’t know.

[Norma · Rating 3 out of 5]

bueno, pero quedó faltando la parte en la que se da los picos con Frida :(

[Nicky Triggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book having just visited the Georgia O Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. Filled in some more details of her life and showed me many more examples of her art.

[Dorle Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vorwiegend biografisch strukturierter Katalog, der aber vielfältige Bezüge zu zeitgenössischen Kunstströmungen bietet.

[Caroline Sarpy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and I learned new things but I just wasn’t WOWED ykwim? But still very good and I loved the selection of paintings

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

The version I read was in English with ISBN: 978-3836556484 but has the same page count and cover, so I'm considering this close enough. (Trying to add it was giving me all sorts of hassle.)

Really lovely collection of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings.

The text is OK but sorely needs indentation for new paragraphs! Or line breaks, something to make it easier to read than having it all justified left. The hyphenated split words on the right were annoying too.

As for text content, it's decent when it's the facts of her life but at times made me roll my eyes when it strayed into interpretations of O'Keeffe's paintings. This book is best for its selection of images from her work, a decent size, but not huge–the book, that is.

If you can't see her work in person (though I highly recommend it), this is a good second choice.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

O'Keefe is one of my SO's favorite artists not to mention one of the most famous and important female artists in general. Her nature representations never really spoke to me, but within this book I was not only able to learn more about them (for example the famous anthropomorphic undertones which O'Keefe never intended and were quite possibly seen as a reflection of the rise of Freud's popularity), but also discover that there was much more to the artist. Her oeuvre is quite varied and changed greatly over the duration of her exceptionally long life and career and I discovered some spectacular landscapes in addition to personal favorites (now these spoke volumes to me) New York cityscapes from 1920s. Excellent book, succinct but well rounded portrait of a magnificent talent and a terrific selection of reproductions. Recommended.

[annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una introducción orientada a la biografía del trabajo de O'Keeffe, aunque las maravillosas reproducciones fomentan la observación de imágenes en lugar de la lectura. Una crónica clara y concisa de la vida de O'keefe y el efecto de su entorno en sus pinturas, en particular el tiempo que pasó en Nuevo México.

Más que flores, las representaciones del desierto de O'keeffe son en realidad mis favoritas. Esta breve lectura le dio más contexto a su vida y obras y me presentó algunas que no conocía.

Fue muy interesante aprender sobre una mujer tan talentosa. El libro es una lectura rápida y fácil sin dejar de ser informativo. Además, el autor incluye mucho del trabajo de Georgia O'Keeffe, desde sus primeras obras hasta las últimas. Si deseas aprender sobre este artista, este libro es una excelente manera de comenzar y aprender mucho.

[J K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at O'Keefe's work, I knew very little about her but found this an involving summary of her life and passions. Picked this up in the library and read it in 45 minutes, but I think I took in every page!

I've long been aware of the artist's work, but I was inspired to pick up this book on her after watching Breaking Bad, which references her more than once and featured one of the 'Patio door' paintings. So some of reading this was down to unlocking a few more layers of the TV show, which I believe is high art in itself.

O'Keefe's use of colour and form are gorgeous and the New York paintings are deceptively simple. Loved learning about her and think I should definitely own this book at some point.

Truly impressive.

[eLPy eLPy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many years ago I heard of Georgia O'Keeffe, but I never delved into her work or her life myself. Having found this book in the 1,800+ left over from my grandmother's things - which I'm looking for homes for - I was drawn to the image on the cover and had to read.

It was very interesting to learn about such a talented woman on my own time. The book is a quick and easy read while still being informative. In addition the author includes a lot of Georgia O'Keeffe's work, from her earliest pieces to her latest. If you want to learn about this artist, this book is a great way to get started and learn a lot.

[Rychelle Boden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book for my art students to use as a visual guide when we work on O'Keeffe paintings in art class and to also use as a reference point when they need any additional resources. I especially feel that the replicated color images of O'Keeffe's paintings are some of the best I have found ever since I began teaching art and they work well in my classroom. I have been very pleased with this book for the past 4 years and I hope it will survive many more busy painting artists before the pages begin to all fall out!

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know Georgia O'Keeffe and her works much better now. This book has wonderful color reproductions of O'Keeffe's paintings. The accompanying text does a fairly good job of giving historical/biographical explanations of her developing styles. Some of the textual style and editing made reading somewhat of a chore.

[Kerfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Taschen produces a visually beautiful book. O'Keefe's work needs no enhancement--and, as the author notes, viewers have moved beyond the flowers to a recognition of the wide and striking range of her art. The brief summary of her life is concise yet representative.

As it is undoubtedly meant to do, the book invites further exploration of the artist and the art.

[Aida]

beautiful book!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting both as a study of the artist and of the cultural milieu in which she lived and painted - I especially liked this as my wife and I have spent time in Taos and Abiquiu.

[Susi · Rating 5 out of 5]

O'Keeffe is my favorite artist, so for me there are no bad O'Keeffe books.

[Sebastián · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bueno para empezar a conocer la obra de doña Georgia, vale la pena buscar otros textos más específicos para profundizar.