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Georgia O'Keeffe
White Iris, 1930
Georgia O'Keeffe's personally expressive imagery was fundamentally rooted in nature, and flowers remained a favorite subject throughout her career. White Iris may be considered a transitional work -- echoing the voluptuous florals of the 1920s that first established her reputation while anticipating her more muscular southwestern imagery that flourished after she began spending increased time in New Mexico a decade later.
The flower's elegantly sensuous curves and subtle pastel hues distinguish it from O'Keeffe's series of black irises painted in the late 1920s, works that flirted with a greater degree of abstraction. Such images were championed and promoted by O'Keeffe's dealer and husband, Alfred Stieglitz, as revealing a new "natural feminine essence" -- an interpretation that defined O'Keeffe's art throughout her life, but one that she never fully embraced. |