Leonardo Da Vinci • Rembrandt Van Rijn • Claude Monet • Vincent Van Gogh • Pablo Picasso • Georgia O’Keeffe

Masterpiece Society Art Appreciation: Georgia O’Keeffe

Masterpiece Society Art Appreciation: Georgia O’Keeffe © 2017 Alisha Gratehouse. All Rights Reserved. Copyright Notice: This curriculum may not be reproduced, displayed, modified, stored or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or other- wise, without prior written consent of the author. One copy of this curriculum may be printed for your own personal use. Most images in this lesson are from Wikimedia Commons and are public domain. Fair Use Notice: This curriculum may also contain copyrighted images, the use of which is not always specifically authorized by the copyright owner. However, for the purpose of art appreciation and enrichment, we are making such material available. We believe this constitutes “fair use” of any such copyrighted material for research and educational purposes as provided for in sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. §107. No copyright infringement is intended.

FIGURE 1 - MUSÉE DU LOUVRE, PARIS, FRANCE

“We cannot measure the influence that one or another artist has upon the child’s sense of beauty, upon his power of seeing, as in a picture, the common sights of life; he is enriched more than we know in having really looked at a single picture.” – Charlotte Mason

“Being an ‘agent of civilization’ is one of the many roles ascribed to teachers. If we are to have any expectations of producing a well-educated, well-prepared generation of deep-thinking, resourceful leaders, then it is essential to give students an opportunity to review, respond to, and ultimately revere the power of the human imagination—past and present. There may be no better way to promote this than to study, understand, and exult in masterpieces.” – Joseph Matthew Piro

Table of Contents

About Masterpiece Society Art Appreciation ...... 5 How to Use This Curriculum ...... 7 Observation & Evaluation Questions ...... 11 Georgia O’Keeffe Biography ...... 13 American Modernism ...... 16 Fun Facts About Georgia O’Keeffe ...... 20 Georgia O’Keeffe Quotes for Copywork ...... 21 Masterpiece #1: Red Poppy ...... 23 Red Poppy Enrichment Activity ...... 28 Masterpiece #2: Pink Tulip ...... 31 Pink Tulip Enrichment Activity ...... 37 Masterpiece #3: Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue ...... 40 Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue Enrichment Activity ...... 46 Art Terms to Remember ...... 48 Recommended for Further Study ...... 49

About Masterpiece Society Art Appreciation

Masterpiece Society Art Appreciation is an “open-up & go” art enrichment curriculum created with the busy mom in mind. Although the lessons coordinate with my online art courses, you do not need to purchase the art course to get a well-rounded knowledge of: • the master artist • several of the artist’s famous works • his or her artistic techniques • the art movement in which he or she created

However, if you’d like to delve even further, the art lessons will be the “icing on the artsy cake” and will help your kids and teens form an invaluable relationship with the artist, as well as giving them a deeper understanding of the methods they used.¹

This eBook will be all you need for this study because I include: • internet links to virtual museums, galleries and artwork • internet links to other helpful websites† • printable templates (which can also be used as coloring sheets for younger students) • additional enrichment materials • recommended books for further study† • recommended videos/movies for further study†

†Please Note: Although we love many of the works of the master artists, we may or may not agree with how they lived their lives. Some of the recommended videos, books, or webpages touch on certain facets of their lives that may be unsuitable for children. Please use your own discretion as a parent.

My desire for this art appreciation curriculum is threefold: • to ignite a love, even passion, for the old masters and their works • to encourage kids and teens to actively engage in the art process and have FUN doing so • to inspire them to utilize and further develop their own God-given creativity

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¹ If you are interested in purchasing the art lessons to coordinate with this art appreciation curriculum, click here. The lessons allow your student(s) to go much deeper than your typical artist study. Students will create three unique works of art per artist that will help them explore their creative talents.

How to Use This Curriculum

These lessons are written for elementary through middle school students, although they can be adapted for younger children and even teens. (See below.)

Use these lessons as: • a stand-alone art appreciation curriculum – great for morning time / morning basket or afternoon teatime! • a supplement to your family’s Charlotte Mason art and artist study • a “no mess” art course – simply use the templates as coloring pages for preschoolers and kindergarteners to “create” alongside older siblings (older students can use templates to transfer patterns for painting projects, or they may prefer to color in with pastels or colored pencils) • part of a unit study • part of your history studies • as an accompaniment to Mixing with the Masters art course

General Art Appreciation Tips & Suggestions:

When studying an artist, it is important to look at several of their works in order to define his or her particular “style.” Each volume of the Masterpiece Society Art Appreciation studies three different works of the artist with internet links to even more of his or her pieces.

Feel free to print out a copy of each work of art (included) and place it inside a page protector in a three-ring binder. This will become your “Art Appreciation” notebook. Various notebooking pages are also provided throughout each volume.

Let your student observe each work of art without you saying much (if anything). This allows the art to speak on its own. Simply encourage them to look closely and observe each piece. Does the work have a story to tell? You can encourage them to describe what they see, what they like or dislike. For a more in-depth study, please see below.

Move as slowly or as quickly as you feel is necessary for your student to form a connection with each artist and his or her work. This curriculum is yours to adapt and adjust as you see fit. Adjust it to your education style. Modify it to your student’s specific needs or tastes. Make it fun!

The most important thing isn’t to learn dull, dry facts about art and artists, but rather to instill and cultivate a love of beauty while helping to develop your student’s ability to “see.”

If you want to study one artist over the course of a few weeks, there is plenty more information under the “Recommended for Further Study” links at the end of the lessons.

As you study more and more artists and their bodies of work, it is important to allow your student(s) to compare and contrast their styles and pieces. What are their similarities? What are their differences?

This will ensure a “review” of each artist and their works, and will help your student form relationships with each one while providing a more comprehensive knowledge and appreciation of art.

Additionally, find ways to expose them to the great art masterpieces on a regular basis whether it’s via coffee table books, wall calendars, posters or prints. If possible, visit local art museums, and at the very least, visit the official websites of famous art museums (several museum links are included at the end of lessons). Our goal is simply to ignite a love for beautiful art in each student, and that will happen over the process of time.

Adapting for Different Ages:

The Masterpiece Society Art Appreciation curriculum is geared towards upper elementary and middle school students. But is easily adapted for all students. Below are a few suggestions:

Preschool/Early Elementary

• When studying the artist’s works, simply let them observe the painting (you can tell them the name of the piece and the artist who painted it if you wish) and have them tell you what they see, what they like or dislike. • Encourage them to create their own version of the piece (drawing, coloring, finger-painting, watercolor, etc.). • Print out an art template (included) and let them color it while their older siblings are learning.

Upper Elementary/Middle School

• Have them read an age-appropriate biography of the artist’s life. • Encourage them to study each piece included in this volume, learning its name, the period in which it was painted, the mediums and techniques with which it was painted, etc. • Print out copies of each piece, any notebooking pages (and fill in), any other relevant information to their study and place it in their “Art Appreciation” binder. • Have them answer a few of the “Observation & Evaluation Questions” (pp. 11-12) about each piece. • Print out the art template (included) and color in with pastels or colored pencils or use template to transfer a pattern to a canvas to paint. • For students who would like more in-depth art lessons, purchase the corresponding Mixing with the Masters art course.

Older Teens/High School

• Assign an age-appropriate biography for them to read about the artist. • Have them research each work of art to find out more interesting facts about it. • Encourage them to compare and contrast the artist’s various other works, as well as comparing and contrasting them with the works of other artists. • Let them create their own “Art Appreciation” notebook, decorating and “curating” it as they desire.

• Have them answer several of the “Observation & Evaluation Questions” (pp. 11-12) about each piece. • Print out the art template (included) and color in with pastels or colored pencils or use template to transfer a pattern to a canvas to paint. • For students who would like more in-depth art lessons, purchase the corresponding Mixing with the Masters art course.

A Note about Viewing Art Pieces Online I have endeavored to link artwork from the museums in which they are housed or Wikimedia Commons, which only uses public domain works when possible. Whenever you click on a hyperlink within this curriculum and are taken to the artwork, remember to hover the cursor over the painting. If the cursor shows a plus symbol (+) on it, click again and the painting will be magnified so that you can view it in greater detail.

A Note about Pronunciations After testing several different websites and videos for native pronunciation of proper nouns, I decided to go with “Google Translate.” This site is streamlined and easy to use, and doesn’t have unwanted pop-ups. Additionally, the pronunciations are made by native speakers from the countries of origin. Whenever you see (pronunciation) after a name or place throughout this curriculum, simply click on the hyperlink and it will open up to Google Translate. Then click the “Listen” icon in the lower left hand corner of the left box to hear the correct pronunciation.

A Note about the Lives of Artists It bears repeating: Although we love many of the works of the master artists, we may or may not agree with how they lived their lives. Some of the recommended videos, books, or webpages touch on certain facets of their lives that may be unsuitable for children. Please use your own discretion as a parent.

Observation & Evaluation Questions

Teaching your child or teen to “see” sometimes requires a bit of prompting and/ or probing. Use this list of questions if you want to take each lesson even further. (Pick and choose a few questions. Don’t feel compelled to inundate your kids with the entire list.) If you are utilizing this curriculum with multiple students, these questions will help create some rich discussions of art.

Observe: 1. Look at this work of art. Describe what you see. What else do you see? 2. What is the mood of this painting? How does it make you feel? 3. How would you describe the lines? Shapes? Colors? 4. What stands out most to you in this painting? Why? 5. What interests you most about this work of art? 6. How would you describe the people/place/things depicted in this piece? 7. How is this picture different from real life? 8. Is there anything this painting reminds you of? 9. Tell me about the colors in this piece. Which color is most prominent? 10. Which part of this painting do you think is the most important part? 11. How do you think the artist created this piece? 12. If you could meet the artist, what questions would you ask him/her about this painting?

Understand: 1. What do you think is happening in this painting? 2. Does this painting tell a story? What do you think that story is? 3. If you were inside this painting what would it feel like? What sounds would you hear? What fragrances (or odors) would you smell? 4. What do you think it would be like to live at the time of this painting?

5. What do you think the artist is trying to convey or communicate in this painting? 6. What do you think the artist’s mood was when he/she created this piece? Why? 7. What do you think this painting is about? Why? 8. If you were able to name this painting what would you call it? 9. What interests you most about this piece?

Compare: 1. How is this painting like/different than others by this artist? 2. How is this painting like/different than paintings of other artists? 3. Is this painting like/different than real life? How?

Evaluate: 1. What do you think is good about this painting? 2. What do you think is bad about this painting? 3. Would you consider this a “great” work of art? Why or why not? 4. Does this piece inspire you? Why or why not? 5. What do you think is worth remembering about this piece? 6. Do you think this piece would inspire someone else?

Georgia O’Keeffe Biography

Georgia O’Keeffe was born on November 15, 1887 on a farm near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. As a 10-year old girl, she declared she would be an artist. Her mother, being the daughter of an artist herself, saw to it that Georgia and her sister received formal art lessons from a local watercolorist. As she matured, her art study continued at Sacred Heart Academy high school in Madison, Wisconsin. After graduating, Georgia studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a year, but became sick and had to leave. In the fall of 1907, she enrolled in the Art Students League in New York, where she won a prize for one of her still lifes which allowed her to attend their summer school in Lake George, New York. In New York City, she often visited artist exhibitions held at Gallery 291, which was owned by photographer, Alfred Stieglitz (pronunciation). There she was exposed to many popular artists such as Auguste Rodin (pronunciation) and Henri Matisse (pronunciation). For four years, Georgia worked as a commercial artist in Chicago, but in 1912, she decided to focus on her own art once again. In 1912, she attended drawing classes at the University of Virginia’s summer school where she learned under a teacher who was heavily influenced by artist, Arthur Wesley Dow. Later, she would begin to experiment with Dow’s theory of self-exploration through art, taking natural forms such as ferns, clouds and waves, and creating abstracted charcoal drawings of them, focusing on shape and line. After Georgia completed this series of charcoal drawings, she mailed a few of them to a friend and former classmate, who showed the drawings to gallery owner,

Alfred Stieglitz. He immediately recognized O’Keeffe’s artistic talent, and exhibited the drawings in his gallery without her knowledge or consent. When she found out, Georgia was infuriated. However, she ultimately forgave him since it was Stieglitz who helped her to become a famous artist. Their meeting began a mutual friendship, and eventually, romance and marriage, which was fueled by an abundance of letter writing between the two of them. The couple bought a house on Lake George where they would spend their summers. Georgia particularly loved it there. She set up her studio in an old barn, painting many beautiful pieces inspired by her natural surroundings. It was here that she began creating the paintings she became famous for – huge, oversized flowers in bright and bold colors, emphasizing details that most people never took the time to notice. She said, “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.” In 1929 Georgia took a trip to New Mexico. She loved it so much that she traveled back and forth for years. Although there were no flowers in the desert, she was able to paint mountains, adobe houses, and animal bones. And after Stieglitz died in 1949, she decided to move to New Mexico permanently. In her later years, her eyesight began to fail, yet she continued to paint – sometimes with the help of others. Georgia O’Keeffe died in Santa Fe, New Mexico on March 6, 1986, at the age of 98. She played an important role in the development of modernism. In fact, she is known as the “Mother of American Modernism.”

[Please Note: Due to U.S. copyright restrictions, specifically, the date of Georgia O’Keeffe’s death and the dates the paintings were created, I am unable to link to high-definition images or offer higher quality printables of her work for this lesson.]

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986)

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American Modernism

Modernism Modernism is a cultural movement that began in the late 19th century. Its central theme was the rejection of tradition and typical expectations. Modernism embraced freedom of expression, experimentation, and radicalism. It not only affected art, architecture, and literature, but also social, political and religious thought. The roots of Modern Art can be found as far back as Realism, Impressionism and Post- Impressionism (see descriptions in “Art Terms to Remember” section). But the devastation of World War I in the early 20th century led to a cultural shift when belief systems were challenged. Artists began to explore and experiment with morality and meaning in their work. Modernist art shocked and alienated viewers with strange, bizarre, and often unpredictable themes or effects. A few of the art movements within Modernism include: • Fauvism – an art movement which incorporated bright, expressive, and vivid colors along with bold, distinctive brushstrokes (notable Fauvist artists include: Henri Matisse, André Derain, and Maurice de Vlaminck)

• Expressionism – an art movement in which the image of reality is distorted in order to make it expressive of the artist’s inner feelings or ideas (notable Expressionist artists include: Die Brücke, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Wassily Kandinsky)

• Cubism – an art form in which subjects were analyzed, broken down into basic shapes, then reassembled in abstract form (notable Cubists artists

include: Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris)

• Surrealism – an art movement that attempted to express the workings of the subconscious mind and is characterized by fantasy imagery and strange contrast of subject matter (notable Surrealist artists include: Marc Chagall, René Magritte, and Salvador Dalí)

American Modernism At the beginning of the 20th century, the general American public was familiar only with traditional art. The paintings of the Fauvists and Cubists were outlandish to them. However, many American artists were influenced by these radical new ideas and began experimenting with cubist landscapes, still life, and portraits. Others explored different methods of expressing themselves through their work. Paintings started to appear with brighter colors. And abstract art was displayed in galleries. Some American Modernists were inspired by the new “machine age” and industrial landscapes. While others experimented with scientific approaches to color, form, and perception. Still others pushed the boundaries of the ridiculous with their art. But it was the Modernist painters who didn’t quite embrace all the “modern” philosophies that are best known today, such as Georgia O’Keeffe, the “Mother of American Modernism,” and Arthur Dove. Both artists wanted art to lift people out of the dullness of the everyday and give them a more “spiritual” understanding of life.

Alfred Stieglitz and American Modernism Famed photographer, Alfred Stieglitz, owned an art gallery in New York. He is personally responsible for introducing quite a few of the Modernist European artists to the United States. Painters such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, sculptor, Auguste Rodin, as well as Post-Impressionist artist, Paul Cézanne, each had their American debuts in Stieglitz’s gallery.

In 1916, he began displaying the works of Georgia O’Keeffe, launching her artistic career, and eventually establishing her as the premier American Modernist painter. O’Keeffe is known best for her large, abstract floral paintings. But she also painted shells, animal bones, and landscapes. Stieglitz also helped establish Arthur Dove’s as a renowned artist. Dove is recognized as America’s first abstract painter. He used unique combinations of mediums to create abstract landscapes. An example of his work is Me and the Moon, a piece created with wax emulsion in 1937. Click here to see this piece. Other notable Modernist artists besides O’Keeffe and Dove, are Aaron Douglas, Charles Demuth, Andrew Dasburg, and Marsden Hartley.

American Modernism

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Fun Facts About Georgia O’Keeffe

• Georgia O’Keeffe loved painting from a very early age, and decided to be an artist when she was 10.

• Her father was Irish and her mother was Hungarian. She and her 6 siblings grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.

• Georgia lived in New York and Chicago, but was most inspired by the New Mexico landscape.

• While living in New Mexico, she didn’t have flowers to paint, so she painted animal bones.

• Georgia customized a Model-A Ford to be her “outdoor studio” where she would paint desert scenes. It protected her from the heat of the sun and provided a barrier against insects.

• She was the first woman to be given an independent exhibition of her works by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

• She created art all throughout her life, even well into her 90s (taking up pottery when she couldn’t see well enough to paint).

• She painted over 2000 paintings in her lifetime – 200 of which were flowers, for which she was most famous.

• A collection of her paintings named 'Calla Lily' sold for $25,000, which was the highest-paid amount at that time, for the works of a living American artist. (But her painting Jimson Weed sold for over $44 million in 2014.

• Georgia rarely signed her paintings, but sometimes she’d write on the back of them.

Georgia O’Keeffe Quotes for Copywork

• “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”

• “Nobody sees a flower really, it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time – like to have a friend takes time.”

• “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.”

• “I have things in my head that are not like what anyone taught me – shapes and ideas so near to me, so natural to my way of being and thinking.”

• “I’d been taught to paint like other people, and I thought, what’s the use? I couldn’t do any better than they, or even as well. I was just adding to the brush pile. So, I quit.”

• “Sun-bleached bones were most wonderful against the blue - that blue that will always be there as it is now after all man's destruction is finished.”

• “Filling a space in a beautiful way – that is what art means to me.”

• “To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.”

• “I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”

• “I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty.”

Masterpiece #1: Red Poppy

Introduction When you think of Georgia O’Keeffe, you probably either think about enormous flowers or cow skulls. Although she painted cityscapes, landscapes, seashells, and other subject matter, she became famous for her gigantic flowers in vibrant colors, and animal skulls she found in the desert. Georgia delighted in highlighting details that most people never took the time to notice. She painted the tiniest parts of flowers on such a huge scale that people had to notice. And she was bold in her color choices. She said, “The men didn’t like my color. My color was hopeless. My color was too bright. I liked colors.” She didn’t create for anyone but herself, and she was precise and methodical when she painted – so much so that she never allowed anyone to watch her paint. But from her systematic painting practices, the world of art received an exquisite body of work.

Background Once, when Georgia O’Keeffe was visiting an art museum, she spotted a small painting of a teacup with a tiny flower painted inside it. Georgia thought the flower was beautiful, but at the same time, she wondered if anyone else would even notice it because it was so small. It wasn’t long after that that she began to paint flowers so large people couldn’t help but pay attention to them. She said, "If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small. So, I said to myself, ‘I'll paint what I see – what the flower is to me but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it – I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.’"

Georgia created more than 200 paintings of flowers in her lifetime. She began by depicting a flower realistically, then she would rework it over and over again, changing it up, accentuating certain parts, altering others, until it became an abstract flower. She might eliminate some of its colors, shapes, and lines. Or, she might enlarge it so much that the entire flower filled the canvas. She said, “Nothing is less real than realism. Details are confusing. It is only by selection, by elimination, by emphasis, that we get at the real meaning of things.”

Mediums and Techniques This stunning piece entitled, Red Poppy, was painted in 1927 with oils on canvas (click here to see a larger image) in one of O’Keeffe’s favorite techniques: gradient painting. Gradient painting is the smooth blending of one color with another by mixing the two. Or it can also mean the gradation of a single color, as in this case. In Red Poppy, we see deep red hues gradually flowing into medium red-oranges and then shifting into light red, even pinkish tints. She said, “Colors and line and shape seem for me a more definite statement than words. I think I’d rather let the painting work for itself...” Not only do the colors, lines and shape make a statement, so does the enormity of the flower itself. True to her signature style, Georgia magnified the poppy, bringing it into close-up range with the viewer, so that the ruffled petals become abstracted and flow off the edges of the canvas.

Other Poppy Paintings This is one of a series of poppies that Georgia created. Others in the series include, Poppy, also painted in 1927 (click here to view it a little larger), and Oriental Poppies, created in 1928 (click here to see it). [*Reminder: Due to U.S. copyright restrictions, specifically, the date of Georgia O’Keeffe’s death and the dates the paintings were created, I am unable to link to high-definition images of her work.]

Red Poppy (top), Poppy (bottom left), and Oriental Poppies (bottom right).

In each of these pieces, there seems to be two dominating forces: the sheer enormity of the flowers and the vivid, bold color. Georgia’s husband, Alfred Stieglitz, referred to them as the “wild red pictures.” Georgia said, “I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could.” Rather than showing us a few poppies in a vase (including the stems), O’Keeffe “zooms” us in so close that we are forced to examine these poppies on an intimate level. Our focus piece, Red Poppy, is slightly tilted – just enough that we can see over into the center of the flower. But in Poppy and Oriental Poppies, we are looking straight above them. The dark value of the browns and blacks create a striking contrast to the brilliant reds. And although she manages to keep these flowers looking delicate and fragile, the overall effect is strong and powerful.

Compare and Contrast Look again at these three paintings. What is the first thing you notice? Do you like one better than the other, or are they all basically the same to you? How do each of these compare to the other? How do they contrast? Do you think the flowers are more realistic or more abstract? Why? What draws you to these paintings? How do the colors make you feel? How many different colors do you actually see? Do you think you’ll look at flowers more closely now because of Georgia’s paintings?

More Information Would you like to find out even more about Red Poppy? Check out the book and video recommendations under “Recommended for Further Study” at the end of these lessons.

Red Poppy

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Red Poppy Enrichment Activity

If you would like to enrich your study of Red Poppy with a “no fuss” art activity, simply print out the template on the following page. Older students can use it as transfer pattern for painting projects, or they may prefer to color in with pastels, charcoals, or colored pencils. Younger students can use it as a coloring page to “create” alongside older siblings. For in-depth art lessons on each of the masterpieces we study in this volume, check out my Mixing with the Masters art course.

Masterpiece #2: Pink Tulip

Introduction Have you ever seen a window-sized tulip? I’d venture to guess that most of the tulips you’ve observed are small enough to hold in your hand or fit in a vase on the kitchen table. But the piece entitled, Pink Tulip, was painted on a large canvas that is 30 inches wide by 36 inches tall. And not only did Georgia use a big canvas, she also magnified the size of the tulip, filling up the entire space of the canvas, so that the viewer can see the tiniest of details in the flower.

Background Georgia O’Keefe was immensely private when she was painting. She didn’t want people to watch her working or see the work in progress – not even her husband. Only when she was completely finished would she reveal the painting to others. This was her artistic practice all throughout her life until she became partially blinded in her old age. Fortunately, she had a young farmhand, John Poling, working on her property. He would help her with her paintings. Over a half century after Pink Tulip was created, he gave us a glimpse of her process: “O’Keeffe often came up to the canvas,” Poling wrote, “one hand gently touching the surface as if her touch showed her what her eyes could not.” After she applied the paint, she would use a special brush to produce the desired surface, transitions, and gradations. Poling said, “she demonstrated how to gently brush the surface of the canvas to smooth out the ridges and rough texture of brush marks in the paint. This technique could also be used to soften transitions from one color to another … Ever so gently she brushed the area I had painted, her arm moving from left to right, covering a three- to four-inch area each pass. It was as if she dusted the paint with air.” The painting Pink Tulip shows the smooth transitions and the “dusted the paint with air” effect that Poling wrote about.

Mediums and Techniques Painted with oil paints on canvas in 1926, the first thing the viewer notices about Pink Tulip is the beautiful, vibrant colors and the soft, curving lines. (Click here to see a larger version of the painting.) The delicate pink petals contrast against the rippling green leaves. Then, the eye is immediately drawn into the center of the tulip. This effect is accomplished by letting one petal fall forward, revealing the green stigma and bright yellow stamens covered with pollen. O’Keeffe once again used the gradient technique in this painting – a skill she proved her mastery of over and over. This time, rather than having the gradation of a single color (as in Red Poppy), she blends one color into a different one, mixing them together in some places, creating new shades and tints. Since red and green are complementary colors (colors on opposite ends of the color spectrum), the pink (a tint of red) and the green create a visual balance and harmony within the piece.

How Georgia Achieved Her Flawless Gradients Georgia O’Keeffe’s farmhand, John Poling, went on to explain more about how she created her elegant, flawless transitions of color (gradients) in her paintings: “This was done by placing the two colors to be blended side by side, one painted to the border of the other. Then a clean brush was used to roughly paint back and forth along the line, mixing the two. Finally, the large brush — what I called the ‘finishing’ brush — gracefully accomplished a variety of gentle transformations in texture and shade, from one color, to an intermediate shade, to the second color.” In order for Georgia to achieve all these effects, Poling said her, “touch had to be deft and light, softly stroking the paint.”

A Look at More Flowers Let’s take a look at a few more of the massive flower paintings that Georgia created around the same time as Pink Tulip, paying attention to her exquisite color transitions.

One of my favorites (after Pink Tulip) is Light Iris (left), painted in 1924. Click here to see a larger version of this gorgeous piece.

And this one (right), entitled, Red Canna, also painted in 1924. Click here to see it enlarged.

This one (left) called, Flower of Life II, was painted in 1925. Click here to view it on a larger scale.

And this painting (right) is titled, Two Calla Lilies on Pink. Click here to see it enlarged.

Each one of these paintings show the soft and smooth gradients that Georgia was so skillful in creating. Which one is your favorite? Why? Does color play a role in causing you to choose one over the other? Or do you prefer shape, form, or lines over color? How do each of these paintings compare and contrast to each other?

More Information Would you like to find out even more about Pink Tulip? Check out the book and video recommendations under “Recommended for Further Study” at the end of these lessons.

Pink Tulip

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Pink Tulip Enrichment Activity

If you would like to enrich your study of Pink Tulip with a “no fuss” art activity, simply print out the template on the following page. Older students can use it as transfer pattern for painting projects, or they may prefer to color in with pastels, charcoals, or colored pencils. Younger students can use it as a coloring page to “create” alongside older siblings. For in-depth art lessons on each of the masterpieces we study in this volume, check out my Mixing with the Masters art course.

Masterpiece #3: Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue

Introduction When Georgia O’Keeffe went on holiday to New Mexico in 1929, she fell in love with its vast desert landscape and the bright Southern light. She once said, that there “half your work is done for you.” So, she began to travel back and forth on a regular basis for twenty years. Finally, after the death of her husband, Georgia moved to New Mexico where she lived for the rest of her life. While living there in the desert, Georgia didn’t have access to the beautiful flowers she had always painted. So instead of flowers, she painted what she could find – mountains, adobe houses, rocks and animal skulls.

Background Nearly every year after 1929, Georgia O’Keeffe spent part of her time in New Mexico. Since flowers didn’t grow in abundance in the desert, she painted the bones that littered the landscape. She once wrote: "To me, bones are as beautiful as anything I know. They are strangely more living than the animals walking around. The bones seem to cut sharply to the center of something that is keenly alive in the desert even though it is vast and empty and untouchable." The inspiration and fascination she found in the desert, from the hills to the mountains, shifted her artistic focus from then on. In fact, on her second trip to New Mexico, she collected numerous bones and had them shipped back in a barrel to her home in New York, where she painted Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue.

Mediums and Techniques Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue was painted in 1931 with oils on a large canvas – approximately 36 by 40 inches. (Click here to see a larger version.) In the foreground of the painting, we see a cow’s skull with jagged edges and worn surfaces, bleached white by the desert sun. Both sides of the canvas are defined by red stripes, and a black stripe runs down the center of the piece, behind the skull. Between the red and black stripes are gradients of blue and white.

Inspiration and Symbolism What do you believe this painting represents? It was created during a time in when American artists were exploring what they believed defined American art. Many of these artists focused on rural and urban themes. Georgia intentionally chose a rustic, desert theme by placing a cow skull in front of the colors of the American flag. The piece represents not only the enduring beauty of the desert, but also the strength of the American spirit. About this painting she wrote: "As I was working, I thought of the city men I had been seeing in the East. They talked so often of writing the Great American Novel, the Great American Play, the Great American Poetry. I am not sure that they aspired to the Great American Painting. So, as I painted on my cow's skull on blue I thought to myself, make it an American Painting. They will not think it great with the red stripes down the sides – Red, White and Blue – but they will notice it."

More Skull Paintings In the last lesson, we looked at several large flower paintings to compare and contrast them to each other. Now, let’s take a look at a few of the skull paintings she created while living in New Mexico.

This painting (left), Cow's Skull with Calico Roses, was painted in 1931. It is similar to our focus piece, but has a softer feel to it due to the light background and roses. Click here to view a larger version of this piece.

The painting (right), called, Ram's Head with Hollyhock, was created in 1935. Click here to see it larger.

This piece (left), called Deer's Skull with Pedernal, was painted in 1936. Click here to view it on a larger scale.

And this painting, known as, From the Faraway Nearby, was created in 1937. Click here to see it enlarged.

What do you think of the animal skull paintings? Do you think they make interesting subject matter to paint? Or do you think it’s odd to paint the skull of an animal? Do you like one more than the others? If so, which one? Why? What is your eye drawn to in each piece? How do you feel about the shape and form in these compositions? How do each of these paintings compare and contrast to each other?

More Information Would you like to find out even more about Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue? Check out the book and video recommendations under “Recommended for Further Study” at the end of these lessons.

Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue

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Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue Enrichment Activity

If you would like to enrich your study of Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue with a “no fuss” art activity, simply print out the template on the following page. Older students can use it as transfer pattern for painting projects, or they may prefer to color in with pastels, charcoals, or colored pencils. Younger students can use it as a coloring page to “create” alongside older siblings. For in-depth art lessons on each of the masterpieces we study in this volume, check out my Mixing with the Masters art course.

Art Terms to Remember

Below is a list of terms and definitions that we discussed in this study of O’Keeffe:

1. complementary colors – colors on opposite ends of the color spectrum

2. Cubism – art form in which subjects are analyzed, broken down into basic shapes, then reassembled in abstract form

3. Expressionism – art movement in which the image of reality is distorted in order to make it expressive of the artist’s inner feelings or ideas

4. Fauvism – an art movement that began in Paris at the turn of the 20th century that incorporated bright, expressive, and vivid colors along with bold, distinctive brushstrokes

5. gradient – painting technique. Gradient painting is the smooth blending of one color with another by mixing the two, or it can also mean the gradation of a single color 6. Impressionism – art movement which focused on loose brushwork, brighter, intense color palettes, and capturing the impression of the moment on canvas

7. Post-Impressionism – art movement which focused on the bolder use of color and line, geometrical forms and patterns, and light in painting

8. Realism – an art movement that began in the mid-19th century, stressing the natural, realistic representation of objects and figures in ordinary life

9. Surrealism – art movement that attempted to express the workings of the subconscious mind and is characterized by fantasy imagery and strange contrast of subject matter

Recommended for Further Study

Want even more enrichment materials to complement your Georgia O’Keeffe study? Here is a list of resources:

(Please Note: Although we love many of the works of the master artists, we may or may not agree with how they lived their lives. Some of the recommended videos, books, or web pages touch on certain facets of their lives that may be unsuitable for children. Please use your own discretion as a parent.)