Episode 34: One of the most significant artists of the 20th Century, Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) was devoted to creating imagery that expressed what she called “the wideness and wonder of the world as I live in it.”  The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, offers insights not only into the artist’s paintings, but also her creative process and the light and landscape that inspired her.
Brooke talks to Dr. Cody Hartley, Director of Curatorial Affairs, about Georgia O’Keeffe’s Far Wide Texas, a collection of watercolors the artist created during the time she lived in Canyon, Texas (1916-1918). This was a period of radical innovation and marks O’Keeffe’s commitment to abstraction. Dr. Hartley explains how these paintings exemplify O’Keeffe’s refusal to be restrained by convention or to be defined by others.
In the words of O’Keeffe herself, “Take time to look…” And to listen.

Train at Night in the Desert, 1916 Georgia O’Keeffe Watercolor on paper 11 7/8 x 8 7/8 (30.2 x 22.5) Amarillo Museum of Art. Purchased with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, Amarillo Area Foundation,Amarillo Art Alliance, The Mary Ann Weymouth Campbell Foundation, Santa Fe Industries Foundation,and Mary Fain (AM.1982.1.4)© Amarillo Museum of Art

Blue Line, 1919 Georgia O’Keeffe Oil on canvas 20 1/8 x 17 1/8 (51.1 x 43.5) Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Gift of The Burnett Foundation and The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation (1997.04.004) © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Nude Series VIII, 1917 Georgia O’Keeffe Watercolor on paper 18 x 13 1/2 (45.7 x 34.3) Georgia O’Keeffe Museum Gift of The Burnett Foundation and The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation (1997.04.011) © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum

Featured Image (at top of the page) Cody Hartley standing by Autumn Trees – The Maple, 1924. Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 in (91.4 x 76.2 cm). Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Gift of The Burnett Foundation and Gerald and Kathleen Peters. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.