Georgia O'Keeffe Abstraction at the Whitney

James Kalm partakes in the press preview for this icon of American Modernism. Over twenty years in the making, this exhibition surveys the lesser known but perhaps more profound side of OKeeffes work, her abstraction. Beginning with her discovery and eventual relationship with Alfred Stieglitz in 1916, OKeeffe was thrust in to the stratosphere of the New York art scene. She was at the forefront of pursuing a type of organic abstraction that Stieglitz championed as Americas contribution to Modernism. Examples of OKeeffes paintings covering nearly fifty years of development are on view. Includes brief statements by Director Adam D. Weinberg, and the curatorial team lead by Barbara Haskell, Barbara Buhler Lynes and Sasha Nicholas.

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[fox408]

what a fantastic post, thanks james!

(hasn't 291 got a plaque or some way of commemorating the importance of the building? ...you would have thought that with all the money in modern art some of the big players ought to have got it together to buy the building and turn it back into a gallery)

[jameskalm]

Hey fox408,

it's been my fantasy to get the city to begin a project to commemorate important cultural locations like this with plaques. So far nada.

[boogiebuddy01]

there must have been people making abstractions way before 1900

[jameskalm]

There might have been artists making abstract work before 1900, (Hillna AufKlimt) unfortunately the annals of art history missed them, so they don't exist

[moorzeekable]

так ЭТО оказывается ЦВЕТЫ! БЛ...!

[espritia]

Thank you for good vid! it's grear

[claureic]

Waching the video again, I was struck by the charcoal pieces of 1915-1916. Wouldn't you say they herald some of Jasper Johns's pieces?

[jpapare]

(Great idea to begin with shots of 291). O'Keeffe always denied painting vaginal symbols, and I'm really glad she addressed that. It makes her work more innovative in that she is abstracting from nature as pure form rather than using form as a reference. The show makes me re-think O'Keeffe: I'm glad we know about the charcoals which show her forms uncontaminated by color. I was happy to see the sculpture, which, for me, was an icon of her personal form.

[JonBibire]

great vid of Georgia,thanks

[chandru1103]

I was indifferent towards O'Keeffe until I saw a documentary of her. In it she was walking through an art gallery, when she saw a Rothko she said (and I am paraphrasing), "it's OK for some people." At which point I shouted aloud in my art history class "what a bitch!" Since then I have given up on her.

[f0rTyLeGz]

So coool! Another great video post. Thanks James.

[fox408]

really? there are more important cultural locations unplaqued? in the uk we are falling over ourselves to draw attention to these kinds of places, sometimes to the extreme...i once saw a plaque above a pub in stratford upon avon that read 'built in 1601...william shakespear probably drank here' ...but you know james, i think you might just be the man to get the ball rolling on this issue!