Women, Art and Museums – January 2019 ENewsletter

Women artists, like women in every endeavor, have been overlooked throughout history. In this month’s ENewsletter we feature two women whose contributions to the arts and culture are enduring: Georgia O’Keeffe and Wilhemina Holladay, both of whom have been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

 

The “Mother of American modernism” artist Georgia O’Keeffe is famously remembered for her paintings of large flowers and depictions of landscapes – particularly those of New Mexico and New York City. O’Keeffe felt constrained during her initial years of art education but during her summer art studies between her years of teaching, she began to develop her own personal style. By 1915, that style was emerging and her first solo commercial exhibition was held in New York City in 1917. In 1929, she began spending part of her year in the Southwest and painting evocations of that area. After her husband died, she lived permanently in New Mexico.