Sunday, February 22, 2009

Being Georgia O'Keeffe II

"I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality. I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say ... in paint."

"I feel there is something unexplored about woman that only a woman can explore."

"I have things in my head that are not like what anyone has taught me ... shapes and ideas so near to me ... so natural to my way of being and thinking that it hasn't occurred to me to put them down."

4 comments:

Linda S. Socha said...

What a wonderful lovely post that leaves me feeling as if I now know the inner O'Keeffe...just a bit

You have such class and a talent with presentation Judith. I know this is not news as anyone who has read your blog would know... but I just needed to say it.
Linda

Judith Ellis said...

Thank you, Linda. It's always good when you pop in. Georgia O'Keeffe had such a rich life that I really sought to capture the essence of her after having read a number of biographies and letters some years ago.

It was always her talent that was impressive, but equally so was her independent streak in a time that found many women timid. She has said that she was afraid every day of her life, but moved in spite of her fear. It's funny that the safety that we long for and embrace often inhibits us from experiencing that which we most seek, satisfaction and security, that of living life large in spite of trepidation. There is peace there too.

Sometimes we think that people such as O’Keeffe are impervious to everyday emotions. But I have come to know through reading and through having known a few very talent people, in not only the arts but in business and government too, that they most certainly experience what we all do. The difference is how they move through them, all differently but the commonality is that they move. Thanks again, Linda.

wmmbb said...

I had not heard of Georgia O'Keeffe. Why not? By the way what of another American woman, Barbara McClintock?

Judith Ellis said...

wmmbb - Are you serious? WOW! This is amazing to me. But I am SO VERY HAPPY to introduce her to you!

There are many many books written on this modern art painter who painted flowers as people and bones as living organisms. Her paintings are alive and rich with color.

If you have not heard of O'Keeffe, I'm sure you would not have heard of Alfred Stieglitz, the American photographer and promoter of modern art?

Stieglitz especially promoted the work of O'Keeffe. Please check them both out. I began reading about them many years ago. I have a wonderful book of letters by O'Keeffe. Great stuff!

Barbara McClintock, scientist and Nobel Laureate in Medicine? She's another creative woman with a razor-sharp intellect, another most beautiful woman--indeed.