Freedom within the Boundaries of Feminism: Interpretations of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Art
Freedom within the Boundaries of Feminism: Interpretations of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Art

Summary/Abstract: The paper is a reflection on the history of interpreting Georgia O’Keeffe’s works through the prism of her gender. The author suggests a discussion of these paintings which goes beyond the theoretical framework of feminine sensibility and erotic symbols. To this end, the author explores some publications on female art and feminist aesthetics which provide information about the art world once dominated by men and about aesthetic standards which are only seemingly universal. Biographical studies of O’Keeffe’s life and work and, perhaps even more importantly, the artist’s own remarks, supply the author with knowledge about the ideas that once inspired the painter: these include Kandinsky’s artistic notions and the achievements of modernist photography. These materials form the basis for the analysis of the content and the form of O’Keeffe’s work. The author focuses on the major subjects depicted by the American artist, i.e. flowers, landscapes and animal bones. On account of the frequently assumed connections between O’Keeffe’s paintings and the art of the Romantic period, the author juxtaposes the American painter’s accomplishments with the works of Caspar David Friedrich. According to the author, the paintings of the German artist are marked by distanced contemplation, whereas O’Keeffe attempts to overcome the dualism between man and nature. It is symptomatic that after the artist’s death, and in compliance with her last will, her ashes were scattered in the desert. In this way, O’Keeffe was literally integrated with this space, where she now hovers, free from our demands that her art be unambiguously interpreted.

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