Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the most well-known artist to be produced in America. O’Keeffe once said, “Colors and shapes make a more definite statement than words.” (Most Popular Paintings, 3) This quote perfectly explains the life and artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe. All of her artwork was an abstraction of the things O’Keeffe felt and the things O’Keeffe witnessed. Georgia O’Keeffe was an important figure in American art because of her innovative and passionate artworks.
November, 15, 1887, Georgia Totto O’Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. While O’Keeffe was very young, her art ability was apparent to everyone around her. Her parents provided her with art lessons in her home. O’Keeffe was often encouraged to pursue her love of art, so…show more content… After graduation, O’Keeffe moved to Chicago, Illinois where she attended the Art Institute of Chicago until 1906. After finishing her time in Chicago, O’Keeffe moved cross-country to New York where she attended the Art Students League in New York City. During her time spent at the Art Students League, she was awarded with the League’s William Merritt Chase still-life prize. The artwork she was awarded for was her oil painting Untitled (Dead Rabbit with Copper Pot). O’Keeffe finished her time at the Art Students League and then proceeded to take a few years off from college. O’Keeffe’s art training returned in 1912 when she took a Summer Course at the University of Virginia. During her course at the University of Virginia, O’Keeffe was taught by Alon Bement who taught her the theories of Arthur Wesley Dow. During this time O’Keeffe was greatly impacted by the teachings of Bement and the theories he taught of Dow. O’Keeffe once made this comment…show more content… In 1972, she painted her last unassisted oil painting, The Beyond. After O’Keeffe lost her eyesight she worked with many assistants that would take her ideas she would paint in her head place them on paper in order for others to continue to enjoy the work of O’Keefe. One of her assistants, Belarmino Lopez, told stories of mixing her watercolors in a specific manor she set for him and prepared the canvas by her careful instructions. After O’Keeffe became ill, she met Juan Hamilton, who eventually became her most adored assistant. Hamilton was a clay sculptor who encouraged O’Keeffe to create her own clay sculptures so that she could feel the art and create it just as she imagined it. O’Keeffe once said, “I can see what I want to paint. The thing that makes you want to create is still there.” Although O’Keeffe could no longer see, she did not let that keep her from continuously pursuing her love of art. (Biography,