Boy, was it different! In the 70's and 80's I remember seeing clips of a wizened old tan lady who looked surprisingly Native American Indian in a barren place, painting flowers and skulls. I knew she was married to Steiglitz and had assumed she began with a life of money and privilege used to promote her art. True to an extent, but the real story has enough differences to shatter my early symbolic memories.
A few salient points that struck me as important:
- Georgia was a public school art teacher before becoming a college professor, then quitting it all to do art full time. What a thing it must have been to have her as a teacher...I wonder what women artists she could present in class back then? Did she bother?
- Georgia was all about the art. She put painting first. Always. Social appropriateness, fashions, even her marriage took a back seat. She unashamedly lived her own way, from start to finish. She wasn't unconventional because it was trendy but because it suited her nature. I love that.
- She was a terrible speller. Always struggled.
- She worked hard, and was able to know her process to allow for a balance of art and life. When she was "on" she was productive and didn't bother when she wasn't, and accepted that. She considered the paintings she made quickly without a lot of fuss better than those that were reworked.
- She was extremely fussy about craftsmanship. From the quality of the stretcher bars on down. Every aspect of craft mattered.
- She didn't really like most people and was a difficult person at times. She responded coldly to people who were in awe of her work, and was rude and defiant at times. She was very self reflective about this and often described people as being "tiring."
- She was a staunch feminist without the baggage that it holds today. She never thought twice about demanding equality with men in her own life, and considering the times, that took grit. One memorable quote said something to the effect of "Women are treated the same as Negroes, and the sad part is that they don't even know it." This was America in the thirties, and she had great foresight.
- She had a Steiglitz. He tirelessly promoted her artwork and made life easier for her so she could devote herself to painting. I wish I had a Steiglitz! When she lived in New Mexico, she was able to hire a cook and housekeeper to avoid all domestic duties. Ah, to dream.
- She made her own clothes. Simple construction from luxurious materials. Often black, white, or gray to not clash with the art she was making. Her environs the same austere tones. Again, all about the art.
- Later in life when she'd settled in New Mexico, she had chow dogs. Two at a time. Everyone thought they were vicious and they'd bitten people. While she had used her car as a mobile painting studio at times, once the dogs arrived on the scene that practice stopped as she couldn't paint with them in the car and she didn't want to leave them behind.
- She collected bones, stones, and weathered wood bits and had them cluttered all over the place. I just love that. To think she made art tirelessly about the same subjects -- bones -- year after year, is inspiring.
- Georgia was well educated from a family with educated parents, but wasn't hugely wealthy. I read no references of her scrounging for funds for food and shelter, but she and her husband did move in to rented rooms with relatives many times and seemed to frequently rely on the support of others until her paintings were selling.
- She did not see her artwork, especially the early pieces, as being sexual in nature. She was upset by the Freudian interpretations of her work and felt that too much was being read into them. Flowers and plants were just flowers and plants. A cigar sometimes is just a cigar. Right.
I still have two hours to go of this fine book, and do feel like I have "met" this artist in a way I hadn't before. Maybe now I will feel less stereotypical about focusing on her art in the classroom. What a neat person, that Georgia O'Keeffe.
What will you make today?