Interview

                           Interview with Georgia O'keeffe

1.  Describe your early childhood and where you grew up.

  I was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on November 15, 1887 (Woman, 2012).  My father was of Irish descent, he had a small farm which supported the growing O'Keeffe family (Woman, 2012).  My mother, Ida, was cut from a different cloth.  She came from a well to do Eastern European family.  My mother was a pretty amazing  woman, she brought seven of us up, with very little help from anyone (Shelton, 2003).  My early memories of her were, of her constantly cooking, cleaning and tending to the family.  My grandmother, grandfather, aunts, uncles, and other family member or friends always were visiting our little farm house.  Even as a young child I found it over overwhelming  and very often I found my self retreating to a quiet place in the house to read or draw (Shelton, 2003).  

  

  Life was simple and good.  Mother made sure we had everything we needed.  My talent for art was recognized early on, and I was sent to the local artist to get some art lessons.  After I left home mother and father had a tough time making ends meet with some bad investments in the 1920"s but of course that happened to many people living though the 1929 stock market crash (Saltz, 2009).  

2.  How did your childhood in Wisconsin spark your interest in art?

   My mother was a great influence in my early years.  She recognized my talent early on and encouraged me to take art lessons from the local water color artist.  I also attribute the long Wisconsin winters to helping me become an artist.  Many months were spent indoors away from the bitterly cold weather and of course we did not have any modern technology to keep us entertained.  My mother used to read aloud to us and I think the stories helped cultivate my imagination and artwork (Shelton, 2003).  In my childhood most of my work was from my imagination.  It was not until I was thirteen and attending the local catholic school were I learned to look by working from a series of still-lifes (Shelton, 2003).   

  When I was 16 years old my family moved to Virginia, just outside Lynchburg.  The landscape was so different from Wisconsin.  I remember in Sun Prairie going outside in early spring, everything was bright, sharp and all the objects around me were highly contrasted.  There was very little snow in Virginia and the light was subtle in comparison to Wisconsin (Shelton, 2003). 

  I continued my art education in Chathan Episcopal Institute (Saltz, 2009).  During this time I spent a lot of time alone walking and exploring the Virginian landscape, I looked for many different types of flowers and other objects from nature to focus my painting upon. But when I was ten years old I already knew I was going to be an artist and no matter where I lived my decision would not have been swayed (Shelton, 2003).   

3.  Who were your mentors in helping you develop your art.

  Well again, my mother.  She encouraged and helped me at a very young age to pursue my dreams.  My parents made sure I had art lessons even when money was tight.  Another great influence in my life was the opportunity to study are with Alon Bement who was the teacher at Columbia University in New York City in the summer of 1912 (Saltz, 2009).  He was a follower of the well known teacher Arthur Wesley Dow.  His favorite saying was,"'To fill space in a beautiful way"' (Shelton, 2003).  He helped me find my own voice, up until that point I had been imitating the European masters and producing heavy realistic work which had nothing to do with me.  He taught me to feel and express my emotions on canvas or paper.  My work changed and I suddenly had a sense of direction.  From 1914-1915 I enrolled in classes with Arthur Wesley Dow at Columbia University.  This was a very thrilling and informative part of my life (Shelton, 2003).

  

   The biggest mentor in my life was also my friend and husband Alfred Stieglitz.  My one time friend, Anita Pollitzer (we have had our differences though the years) urged me to send some drawings to her.  I was teaching in South Carolina at the time, it was about 1916.  Anita took the drawings I sent to the gallery known as 291, the gallery owner was Alfred Stieglitz.  He kept and hung my work without my permission, I had to travel to New York to see this man for myself.  He was very excited about my large charcoal drawing and exclaimed,"'At last a woman on Paper"' (Shelton, 2003).   All this led to us becoming more than friends, in other words in love.   

4.  What was the art world like when you were in New York City?

   When I studied in Chicago and New York City, most American artists looked to Europe for inspiration.  For example, the artist John Vanderpoel who I studied with in Chicago in 1905 taught me in the style of the traditional European masters.  I thought it was good at the time because I learned to see, really see what was in front  of me.  It was not my voice but it was an important part of my education and helped make me an artist (Woman,2012).

    Alfred was a visionary and spent a lot of his time in Europe and was exposed to what was going on.  He brought over the work of Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse.  It was a very exiting time for art.  Being with Stieglitz and being part of gallery 291 was very energizing for my own work, being surrounded by wonderful artists and their work (saltz, 2009).  

5.  Was your work affected by any economic, cultural and political situations?  

   In the early days finances were difficult.  My mother and father, as I said, lost a lot of money in bad investments.  After college, I attended a teacher training course and took up a position in Texas.  It was difficult to find time to do artwork and I was also frustrated with my work at that point.  I wanted to gave up on many occasions!  When I met Alfred he asked me what I wanted in life and I replied saying, "'I want time to paint"' (Shelton, 2003).  He said he would set me up in a studio for a year with no financial worries.  Alfred's family was well to do and money was never one of his worries

   

   I have lived though two wars and perhaps I should have been more aware of what was going on politically.  You see, Artists are very selfish people, and I was no different. Alfred and I caused quite a stir when he took a series of nude photos of me and put them up in Gallery 291.  When he exhibited them in his gallery the public was shocked, you see this was the time were woman did not show their sexuality to the world.  Plus I was living with Alfred but not married to him and this was considered pretty shocking at the time.  Alfred made photographs into an art form and the nudes were not an exception, but the public was not ready for it (Shelton, 2003).  

6.  What do you consider to be your best work, and what mediums do you like to work with?

  In 1915 I completed a series of abstract charcoal drawings.  These were the first drawing which expressed my own feelings and some say they were considered to be the most innovative art that was going on at the time in America (Saltz, 2009).  People call me a woman artist but I dislike that, I am an artist happy to exhibit my work with,"'the men,'" as I like to call them.  "'To create one's own world, in any of the arts, take courage"' (O'Keeffe, 2012). 

  The flower paintings are what I'm best known for, most of them are in water color (Saltz, 2009).   I wanted people to be surprised by seeing close up views of something they would not take the time to notice.  "'When people read erotic symbols into my painting they are really talking about their own affairs"' (Saltz, 2009).  People's misconceptions of my work really upset me,"'I almost wept"' (Saltz, 2009) 

  My paintings from New Mexico are very important to me.  I love to stand in the solitude of the desert and paint this beautiful harsh landscape.  The changing light and the vast array of colors never bore me.  Many of my paintings from New Mexico were done in oil color.  When Alfred died in 1946 I moved to New Mexico for good (Woman, 2012).  I found a peace there that perhaps I never had in New York City.  

7.  What were the major turning points in your life and art.

  Perhaps one of the most important opportunities in my life was exhibiting my art at Stieglitz Gallery 291, this happened in 1916 (Shelton, 2003).  Alfred was my lover, mentor, and promoter (Saltz, 2009). 

  

  Another important event in my life was moving to New Mexico and acquiring my two houses there.  I purchased Ghost ranch house in 1940 and my other house in Abiquiu in 1945, both places had wonderful views and many painting and drawing were produced in these locations (Georgia, 2011).  "' Such a beautiful untouched lonely feeling place, such a fine part of what I call the 'Faraway'.  Its a place I have painted before… even now I must do it again"' (Britanica, 2012).  I have spent more than half my life in New Mexico painting the desert.   

8.  Did you have any hardships in your career.

 Yes, in 1932 I suffered a nervous breakdown, there was a few factors that contributed to it.  I was working on a mural at Radio City Music Hall and had fallen far behind schedule, and I could not complete it (Britanica, 2012). 

  

  Alfred was having an affair during this time.  He was well known in the city and I found it extremely painful and embarrassing (Saltz, 2009).  I did not paint for a whole year, 1933-1934.  In the spring I recuperated in Bermuda and in summer I went back to New Mexico, and that is when I decided to make a big change and spend more time there.

9.  Who inspires you in the arts?

  The people I admire are Arthur Wesley Dow and Alon Bement.  Both teachers had a profound influence on my work, they introduced me to Modernism (Emery, 2012).  

  Artists August Rodin and Wassily Kandinsky helped changed the way I worked and viewed art.  Now that I am older, "'I don't enjoy looking at painting in general.  I know too much about them.  I take them apart"' (Emery, 2012).  

  Alfred and Paul Strand were good friends and mentors to me.  People think I live an isolated life but friends visit me at Ghost Ranch, to name a few, Joni Mitchell and Alan Ginsburg.  Tod Webb, the photographer, spends a lot of time with me.  Tod has taken many photographs of me and the surrounding landscape (Emery, 2012).   

10.  Do you have any personal anecdotes?

  One of my favorite stories, is the first time I met Alfred.  I did not give him permission to hang my drawings but he went ahead and did it anyway.  I went up to Gallery 291 to met the great, 'Stieglitz.'  I demanded to have my work taken off the walls but he stated that they were to big and cumbersome and it would not be possible.  I think if Alfred was intimidated my me and had taken the work off the walls then maybe I would not have been so successful.  But I would have still been an artist no matter what (Shelton, 2003).

  More importantly,"'I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do"' (O'Keeffe, 2012).  Perhaps that best sums up my life in the arts.

                                                                            Bibliography

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