Happy Birthday, Dear Georgia

O'Keeffe, Two Pink Shells

Today, Georgia O'Keeffe would have been 125 years old.  She is perhaps one of the most misunderstood painters of the twentieth century.  All too often, critics and historians attempt to alter her abstractions into something she never intended (but how can we really ever know what she intended).  

While the temptation to see things buried within her shapes will always challenge viewers, I appreciate Georgia's work on a purely  aesthetic level.  Her soft colors and crisp lines enchant me.  From the time I first copied her sunflowers in elementary school until I wrote my master's thesis about The Lawrence Tree, Ms. O'Keeffe has occupied a very special place in my creative mind.  

John Loengard’s 1967 portrait