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Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887-1986)
Machu Picchu, Peru, n.d.
Watercolor on paper, 9 x 11-7/8 in.
Gift of the Baker/Pisano Collection. 2001.9.182
Perhaps the most famous female artist in America, Georgia O'Keeffe studied at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905 and 1906 before continuing her education in New York at the Art Students League, where she studied with William Merritt Chase from 1907 to 1908. From Chase, O'Keeffe learned the importance of mastering the artist's materials, and she explored in sequence the possibilities of charcoal, watercolor, and pastel before turning primarily to oil in 1924. Although she ultimately rejected Chase's realist approach, O'Keeffe praised his teaching, which "encouraged individuality and gave a sense of style and freedom to his students." O'Keeffe developed a unique style of abstraction characterized by a simplification of forms, and through her relationship with photographer and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz she was able to exhibit her work on a regular basis, a fortuitous circumstance for a female artist at that time. Inspired by nature, O'Keeffe is best known for her depictions of flowers, shells, bones and the landscape. In Machu Picchu, Peru, the artist evokes the mountainous region where the pre-Columbian Incas settled.
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