O Keeffe vs. Degas 1 ART 1100 A: Intro to the Visual Arts CRN: 22177 Georgia O Keeffe vs. Edgar Degas Tiera Ford Student ID: 870-286-261 April 19, 2011
O Keeffe vs. Degas 2 The purpose of this paper is to explore the lives of artists, Georgia O Keeffe and Edgar Degas. It is also to compare and contrast their life experiences and the styles of their artwork. Figure 1 Georgia O'Keeffe in Abiquiu, New Mexico, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1950. http://www.svr225.stepx.com:3388/georgia-o-keeffe American painter, Georgia O Keeffe, was born on November 15, 1887 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She came from a family of farmers. Along with growing up in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, she also spent some of her childhood living in Williamsburg, Virginia 1. At the age of 12, Georgia decided that she wanted 1 History, Women in. Georgia O Keeffe. 03 10, 2011. http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/okee-geo.html (accessed 03 10, 2011).
O Keeffe vs. Degas 3 to become a professional artist 2. Having made this decision to become an artist, she began to take art lessons while she was attending high school, which was very uncommon during that particular time period 3. Georgia graduated in 1904 from Chatham Protestant Episcopal Institute in Williamsburg, Virginia. She also continued her studies at three other institutions, which are the Art Institute of Chicago (1905-1906), the Art Students League in New York (1907), and lastly the Columbia University Teachers College 4. In addition to being an artist, she also taught art for four winters in the Texas Panhandle. In 1916, she met her soon to be husband, Alfred Stieglitz, who was also in the business of art, at his New York art gallery 5. As well as Mr. Stieglitz owning his own art gallery, he was also a photographer. Alfred and Georgia got married in the year of 1924, and they were together for 22 years. Their marriage union ended when Mr. Stieglitz died in the year of 1946. 2 Plagens, Peter. Georgia on our Minds. Newsweek, 2004: pp64-65. 3 Mills, Christine. Georgia O Keeffe. Instructor, 2004: p.36. 4 Frank, Patrick. Prebles Artform. 10 th Edition, 2011: p. 54.
O Keeffe vs. Degas 4 Figure 2 Red Canna, c. 1923, oil on canvas, 36 x 30 http://www.michaelangelo.com/okeeffe/fl-redcanna.html Georgia O Keeffe was famous for her oversized painting of flowers. These paintings were usually formed in abstract form. Ms. O Keeffe once stated that since we often ignore them in life, she decided to make her flowers too large to be ignored. Along with her artwork that consisting of flowers, she also did other pieces made with charcoal, but these were mainly done in the earlier years of her career. O Keeffe also liked to use bones as a subject when she painted. In her artwork, most of her pictures were of common things or nature, they were things that we, as people see every day, but we pay no attention to them.
O Keeffe vs. Degas 5 O Keeffe was associated with three movements during her lifetime, which were modernism, imitative realism, and lastly, abstract expressionism. Modernism consists of a type of artwork that is based on the personal ideas and feelings of the artist. She was very fund of abstract paintings, in-fact that is what she was widely known for because she used that type of paintings when she painted her oversized flowers. Abstract art is any form of art that is not linked to objects from the world. This type of art can also be referred to as nonobjective art or nonrepresentational art. Georgia moved to New Mexico towards the end of her career and that is when her subject matter shifted to the desert. She lived her last days here at a ranch until she died on March 6, 1986. Figure 3 Self-Portrait: Degas Lifting His Hat Giclee Print Degas, Edgar 9 in. x 12 in.
O Keeffe vs. Degas 6 http://art-canyon.com/2010/08/edgar-degas-lifting-his-hatself-portrait/ The next and final artist that I will discuss in my paper is an artist and sculptor, by the name of Hilaire-Germaine- Edgar De Gas, or also known as Edgar Degas, was born on July 19, 1834 in Paris, France to an upper class family. Pierre, his father was a French banker, and his mother, Celestine, was an American from New Orleans, Louisiana. Their last name Degas was changed by other family members to De Gas because they thought that this way would make the name sound more refined. Edgar made a decision years later to change his last name back to the original spelling. As a child, he learned to love music and art 6. In the year of 1947, as a young boy, Edgar lost his mother. That tragic experience had a terrible effect on him. It changed his personality. After the incident occurred, he was described as being ill-tempered, restless, and insecure. In 1865, Edgar experienced his first art exhibit at the Salon, after that year, he exhibited his work there for five more years 7. Shortly after that in 1870, he began to have problems with his vision. Around the same time, he joined the French 5 Karre, MaryAnn. Getting to Know the World s Greatest Artists: Edgar Degas. School Library Journal 56, no. 11, 2010: p. 48. 6 Edgar Degas. In Columbia Encyclopedia, 6 th Edition. 2010.
O Keeffe vs. Degas 7 National Guard. This was around the time of the Franco- Prussian war. Also like Ms. O Keeffe, Edgar was a part of a movement, but it was a different movement. He was a part of a group of individuals, who went by the name of the Impressionists. This particular group of individuals had a very unique style of painting. Unlike most artists, they didn t do paintings to capture the details of different objects, but instead they did them to capture the movement of individuals. The purpose of their work is in-fact to capture a certain light and a specific mood at a particular time. The art style of Mr. Degas differed greatly from the style of Ms. O Keeffe. While she liked to do paintings of everyday things, such as flowers and their unnoticed details, Edgar focused more on females, whether it was ballet dancers or naked women bathing themselves, which he began to paint in the later years of his life and career. He began doing his paintings of ballet dancers in the 1870s and they were very popular because he basically captured their every move in his paintings. He also liked to use pastels when he was doing his paintings. Halfway through his life, he changed his art theme to contemporary.
O Keeffe vs. Degas 8 In conclusion, while the styles of these two artists are very different, they were drawn together by some the experiences that took place in their lives, such as the people that they lost during their lifetime. Ms. O Keeffe lost her husband who helped her to get her career off the ground by placing her artwork in his gallery at the beginning of her career. Edgar lost his mother when he was young child, who obviously influenced his life greatly because her death had a huge impact on him. These two people that they lost played huge roles in their lives, whether it was for support or to actually help boost their career. I think they were like a form of inspiration for their works of art. Another thing that they both had in common was they both experienced problems with their vision. Ms. O Keeffe lost her central vision completely and was forced to give up painting, while Mr. Degas lost only a portion of his sight, but was still able to do what he loved most, sculpt and paint. I personally like the style of the artist, Edgar Degas the best out of the two because his art style was very different from what I would expect to see when I walk into a art gallery or look at a painting. Of course, just like any other person, I would pay attention to the detail because I feel like that is the main purpose of a painting, but I would
O Keeffe vs. Degas 9 never imagine the artist to paint a picture or to do a sculpture and actually capture the movement of a individual. To me, that seems difficult and time consuming, but he did it and it is very impressive to me. I also think that by him doing this type of painting, it makes the artwork appear more realistic. In-fact one of my favorite paintings is one of his pieces of a ballet dancer, entitled Danseuse assise or the Seated Dancer, which is placed below. The Seated Dancer is a charcoal and pastel painting that was copyrighted sometime between the year of 1879 and 1880. This is one of my favorite paintings because of the bright colors that he used, which made the painting very colorful. I also like how realistic the painting truly is. When I look at it, I can see that he captured her in the midst of a movement and I can actually picture the dancer dancing in my mind. Figure 4 Seated Dancer (Danseuse assise)
O Keeffe vs. Degas 10 Edgar Degas c. 1879-80. Charcoal and pastel on paper mounted on pasteboard. 25 x 19 1/8 in. (63.5 x 48.7 cm.). The Hermitage, St. Petersburg. No. GR 155-99. Formerly collection Otto Krebs, Holzdort. http://www.paintingmania.com/seated-dancer-danseuseassise-124_2918.html
O Keeffe vs. Degas 11 Illustrations: Figure 4: Degas, Edgar. Seated Dancer (Danseuse assise). The Hermitage, St. Petersburg. Figure 3: Degas, Edgar. Self-Portrait: Degas Lifting His Hat Giclee Print. Figure 2: O'Keeffe, Georgia. Red Canna. Figure 1: Vechten, Carl Van. Georgia O'Keeffe in Abiquiu. New Mexico.
O Keeffe vs. Degas 12 Bibliography "Edgar Degas." In Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition. 2010. Frank, Patrick. Prebles' Artforms. 10 th 1p. Edition. 2011: p54-54, History, Women in. Georgia O'Keeffe. 03 10, 2011. http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/okee-geo.html (accessed 03 10, 2011). Karre, MaryAnn. "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Edgar Degas." School Library Journal 56, no. 11, 2010: p48-48, 1p. Mills, Christine. "Georgia O'Keeffe." Instructor, Vol. 113 Issue 7, 2004: p36-36, 1p. Plagens, Peter. "Georgia on our Minds." Newsweek,Vol. 144 Issue 8, 2004: p64-65, 2p.