Georgia O’Keeffe (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

As biographer Roxana Robinson interprets the work of Georgia O’Keeffe, the liquid lines and yielding, orificial, fissured imagery of especially her flower, shell, and skull and pelvic series revealed a particularly feminine vision and, also, vulnerability. Presenting O’Keeffe’s work in the context of her life, Robinson provides a credible case for such an interpretation. Reared in a family of strong women in a patriarchal society, having chosen to express herself in a medium traditionally dominated by males, and having herself a passionate yet prodigiously disciplined personality, O’Keeffe continually underwent struggles between dependence and independence in her personal life and at times careened between periods of intense activity and inertia in her career. Her emotional attachments with men variously involved chaste romanticism, a sensual affair with a married man, an often estranged marriage, and flirtations with much-younger men. Her art would alternatively display vivid emotionalism and austere formalism.

O’Keeffe metamorphosed out of obscurity as an art teacher in the hinterlands of Texas into a protege of photographer and art promoter Alfred Stieglitz within the avant-garde circles of New York, and finally into a near-mythic figure ensconced in the mountains of New Mexico. Given the task of comprehending such a life, Robinson ably takes both a broad and close-range view. O’Keeffe is perceptively seen in various roles: daughter, sister, friend, lover, companion, wife, creative and professional artist, teacher, feminist, businesswoman. In addition, the reader experiences much of the sweep of American cultural life throughout the twentieth century, following O’Keeffe’s ninety-eight years.

Falling out of favor in the early 1950’s when the Abstract Expressionists, with their impersonal subject matter and violent brush strokes, dominated the American art scene, O’Keeffe would again achieve recognition by the 1960’s. At times, her popularity seemed to reach cultlike status. Robinson chronicles such vicissitudes through personal correspondence, critical reviews, and photographs, all conscientiously documented. The closing chapter involves the contestation to O’Keeffe’s will and final codicils, with attendant legal battles and media attention--a twist, intentional or not by Robinson--on the fate of the artist-as-celebrity in a determinedly commercial world.

Sources for Further Study

Booklist. LXXXVI, September 15, 1989, p.133.

Kirkus Reviews. LVII, August 15, 1989, p.1229.

Library Journal. CXIV, September 15, 1989, p.111.

Los Angeles Times Book Review. November 12, 1989, p.2.

The New York Times Book Review. XCIV, November 5, 1989, p.3.

Publishers Weekly CCXXXVI, August 4, 1989, p.80.

Time. CXXXIV, November 20, 1989, p.104.

The Washington Post Book World. XIX, November 13, 1989, p.7.