Georgia O’Keeffe: une artiste au Far West is a documentary film which premiered in 2021.
As the title says, this film is about the life and work of the famous American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** English title: Georgia O’Keeffe: The Mother of American Modernism
** Writer and director: Evelyn Schels
** Narrator: Charlotte Rampling
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Run time: 53 minutes
Two historical experts are interviewed in this film
Here are the names of the participants
Listed in alphabetical order
** Barbara Buhler Lynes (born 1942) – an American art historian and a curator
** Roxana Barry Robinson (born 1946) – an American author and a biographer
Archive footage is used between the talking heads.
Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the talking heads.
Archive footage is used when the narrator is speaking
Several video clips show Georgia O’Keeffe walking in and around her home in New Mexico, talking about her life and her work.
The year of recording is never mentioned, but it seems these clips were recorded when the artist was around 90 years old and she was looking back at a long life.
Georgia O’Keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887. She attended elementary school in that state.
In 1901, she and her family moved to Virginia. She attended high school in that state.
As a young child, she already knew she wanted to work as an artist. When she grew up, she studied art in Chicago and New York. She began to work as an artist.
In New York, she came into contact with Alfred Stieglitz who was a famous photographer.
He was more than twenty years older than her, and already married, but they became good friends.
Alfred helped her career. He was able to do this, because he had many connections. Before long, Georgia was a successful artist.
In 1924, after his divorce, they were married. They had much in common, but after a few years, she felt she had to get away from him and from the big city in order to save her independence.
In 1929, she left him and she moved to the western part of the USA. She settled down in New Mexico where she was isolated and surrounded by a large desert. But she liked it. She felt at home in this place.
This was the beginning of a long period of her life in which she alternated between New York in the winter time and New Mexico in the summer time.
Georgia and Alfred never divorced. They were still close, even when they were apart.
When she was in New Mexico and he was in New York, they communicated with numerous letters.
In 1940, she bought a ranch called the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. It became her summer residence.
In 1945, she bought a house in the town Abiquiu in New Mexico. But the house needed to be restored before she could move in. Restoration work took four years.
In 1949, she moved into the house. It became her winter residence. From this moment in time, New Mexico was her permanent home.
Georgia O’Keeffe painted what she saw around her, wherever she was.
When she lived in New York, she painted the skyscrapers in the big city.
When she lived in New Mexico, she painted the landscape, the mountains, the flowers, and the white bones she found when she was walking around in the area.
The lines of the skyscrapers in New York and the lines of the mountains in New Mexico dominated her style of painting.
The flowers and the white bones she found in the desert appealed to her with their color and their lines.
This was how she expressed herself.
Her style is known as expressionism.
Alfred died in 1946. When he died, she no longer had a strong reason to alternate between New York and New Mexico. Her heart was in the desert of New Mexico.
During the early years of her time as an artist, she travelled across the US. She also travelled outside the US, first to Mexico and later to Peru.
During the later years of her time as an artist, she crossed the Atlantic Ocean and travelled to Europe. She also crossed the Pacific Ocean and travelled to Japan.
When she got older, her vision was impaired. It seems she had cataract on both eyes and she did not have surgery to deal with this problem. During her final years, she was no longer able to work as a painter.
When she died in Santa Fe in New Mexico in 1986, she was almost 100 years old.
What do reviewers say about this film?
On IMDb it has a rating of 71 percent.
In my opinion, this rating is too low. On the other hand, I cannot go all the way to the top. Why not? Because this film has a flaw.
It covers the life and work of the famous artist in great detail, but one important part of her life is never mentioned.
What is missing? Her connection and her friendship with the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo met each other for the first time in the US in 1931. Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera were visiting the US, and while they were there, they attended an exhibition of works made by Georgia O’Keeffe.
Georgia and Frida had much in common.
Both were female artists. And both had married a man who was already famous and who was much older than they were. They had something to talk about!
What happened later?
** They talked on the phone in 1932
** Frida sent a letter to Georgia in 1933
** Apparently, Georgia did not send any letters to Frida
** They met in the US in 1933
** They met in New York in 1938
** They met in Mexico in 1951, when Georgia travelled to Mexico City. This was their final meeting.
Frida died three years later, in 1954. Diego died in 1957, three years after his wife.
The story of the friendship between the American artist and the Mexican artist is important, but it is never mentioned in this film.
I like this film, and I want to offer a good rating, but as you can see, there is a flaw, which cannot be ignored.
I have to remove one star because of this flaw. This product deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent)
REFERENCES
# 1. Items available online
Karen Chernick
“Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe’s formative friendship,”
Artsy Net
21 March 2020
Sara Kettler
“Behind Frida Kahlo’s real and rumored affairs with men and women,”
Biography
14 July 2020
Maria Popua
“26-year-old Frida Kahlo’s compassionate letter to 46-year-old Georgia O’Keeffe,”
The Marginalian
Year unknown
Laura Kostelny
“Georgia O'Keeffe: The Mother of American Modernism,”
Cowboys & Indians
05 September 2023
# 2. Books
Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life
By Roxana Robinson
(1989 = hardcover)
(2020 = paperback)
Carr, O’Keeffe, Kahlo:
Places of Their Own
By Sharyn Udall
(2000 = hardcover)
(2001 = paperback)
This volume focuses on three female artists:
** Emily Carr (1871-1945) from Canada
** Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986) from the US
** Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) from Mexico
Georgia O’Keeffe and New Mexico:
A Sense of Place
By Barbara Buhler Lynes
(2004)
Georgia O’Keeffe and her Houses:
Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu
By Barbara Buhler Lynes
(2012)
Georgia O’Keeffe:
Flowers in the Desert
By Britta Benke
This volume is published by Taschen
(2016)
Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern
By Wanda M. Corn
(2017)
Frida in America:
The Creative Awakening of a Great Artist
By Celia Stahr
(2020)
# 3. Film and video
Bone. Wind. Fire.
About Georgia O’Keeffe, Emily Carr, and Frida Kahlo
30 minutes – this short and most unusual film is available online from the National Film Board of Canada
(2011)
Imagine: Georgia O’Keeffe - By Myself
BBC – 64 minutes – on YouTube
(2016)
Georgia O’Keeffe: Portrait of an Artist
WNET – 59 minutes – on YouTube
Year unknown
Georgia O’Keeffe: Biography
Peter Jones Productions
89 minutes – on YouTube
Year unknown
Georgia O’Keeffe:
A Collection of 294 Paintings
28 minutes
Year unknown
*****
The famous American artist
Georgia O'Keeffe
(1887-1986)
This photo shows her in 1917
*****
Cow's Skull:
Red, White and Blue
By Georgia O'Keeffe
(1931)
This painting is inspired by
the American flag
*****
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