AMERICAN MODERNISTS

The art world was traditionally a man's world. Women in the nineteenth century had no political power — not even the right to vote. Few colleges were open to women, and women who wanted to be artists were not admitted to art schools. Their work was rarely exhibited, and they were generally kept out of the inner circles of the great artists, except in rare cases.

But there was one American artist was about to challenge that masculine terrain in the twentieth century, and that woman was Georgia O'Keeffe, an artist who is today one of the best-known and best-loved American artists of all time. While O'Keeffe wasn't a suffragette, she did break down barriers for women in the art world.

OBJECTIVES

• Discuss the role of Gallery 291 in the development of American Modernism.

• Characterize the work of John Marin.

• Identify the two styles of Marsden Hartley.

• Describe the life and work of Georgia O'Keeffe.

VOCABULARY

GALLERY 291: INTRODUCING AMERICA TO MODERNISM

Alfred Stieglitz, an American photographer, championed the designation of photography as an official art form. Stieglitz and another photographer named Steichen opened their first gallery in New York City in 1908. At first, the gallery only exhibited photographs. However, Steichen was living in Paris at the time and became familiar with the work of artists such as Matisse, Cezanne, Picasso and Rodin. He sent some of their work to Stieglitz. These exhibitions helped Alfred Stieglitz draw attention to the power of photography to shape public awareness. Developments in photography were impacting society in new ways.

When other galleries also began to show European artists, Stieglitz branched out and exhibited more experimental work, such as this sculpture by Constantin Bancusi at the National Gallery of Art.

Stieglitz’s gallery was also the first place to exhibit Marcel Duchamp's Fountain, the urinal that you saw in an earlier lesson. He was also one of the first to display African art as fine art. Stieglitz was "deeply committed" to American artists; his gallery was one of the first to display their talents. 

Stieglitz was a famous artist in his own right, known worldwide for his photographs and his articles on art and photography. Stieglitz also photographed the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, above, who later became his wife. He also sponsored other artists including Marsden Hartley and John Marin. 

Take a virtual trip to the Metropolitan Museum and review this photograph of Marsden Hartley by Stieglitz.

AMERICAN MODERNISTS – MARIN AND HARTLEY

John Marin (1870-1953) 

John Marin was an American painter known for his outstanding watercolors. Marin thought that pure abstraction was self-indulgent. He believed that true art was always related to the act of seeing. He said, "I demand of my paintings that they are related to experiences...that they have the music of themselves — so that they do stand of themselves as beautiful — forms, lines and paint on beautiful paper or canvas."

Influenced by the Cubists, his work can be characterized by flat surfaces, geometric shapes that suggest figures, and a sense of a "repetition of glimpses." Sometimes, to give more substance to the medium of watercolor, Marin would mix the color with charcoal and graphite.

Marin's work is known for:

• bold strokes

• dense patches of color

• fluid washes

• deft lines

• dynamic energy

Review the image of Brooklyn Bridge by John Marin. Notice the sense of excitement, the vigorous brush stokes and the use of color.

Now visit the Colby Museum online and choose another one of Marin's paintings to review. 

Marsden Hartley 1877-1943 

Mardsen Hartley's mother died when he was eight years old, and death was often a theme of his most important paintings. In 1909, Hartley's work was exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz's Gallery 291. In 1912, following a second exhibition of his work, Hartley traveled to Paris, where he met the art collectors Leo and Gertrude Stein. Later he visited Germany and was influenced by the abstract artists Franz Marc and Wassily Kandinsky. In Germany he witnessed military parades, which inspired his series of abstract paintings.

Hartley stayed in Germany even after the beginning of World War I. He returned home only after the death of his close friend, Karl von Freyburg, who was a young German solder. In 1914, he painted his most famous abstract painting, Portrait of a German Officer, above, as a commemoration to his friend. Notice the shape of the abstract figure that resembles a body.

In 1919, Hartley abandoned abstraction and began painting still lifes, landscapes and figures. Later in life he moved to his early home of Maine. His work of this time period is closer to American Regionalism because of its crude realism.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE (1887-1986)

Georgia O'Keeffe was an American abstract painter, famous for the purity and lucidity of her still-life compositions. She began her career as a freelance commercial artist with two fashion houses. In 1910, she turned to teaching, while also studying art. She developed her own style, achieving flow and movement with a spare simplicity. In 1916, one of her friends showed O'Keeffe's abstract charcoal drawings to Alfred Stieglitz. He decided to exhibit her abstract drawings at Gallery 291. By 1918, she had joined Stieglitz in New York, and O'Keeffe and Stieglitz married in 1924. O'Keeffe's early work was influenced by Wassily Kandinsky's "Concerning the Spiritual in Art," which she read in Stieglitz's periodical, Cameraworks.

Early work of O'Keeffe

In 1929, O'Keeffe began to travel to the American Southwest, then started to spend her summers in New Mexico where she painted her famous depictions of desert scenery, rather than people, such as the bleached skull of a cow. In 1949 she made New Mexico her home and brought a new awareness to her beautiful state. Although O'Keeffe paints subjects representationally, the shapes and patterns form abstract designs.

The qualities that mark an O'Keeffe painting include:

• Stark linear quality

• Translucent coloring

• Boldly patterned compositions

Because so many of her shapes and patterns form abstractions, many of her works are surreal in nature. One example is her painting, Black Iris. Later in her career, she began to paint the sky and clouds as seen from above.

To learn more about the life of Georgia O'Keeffe, go to the following PBS website and read her biography: O'Keeffe Biography.

Take a virtual visit to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico and read about her art work.

LET'S REVIEW!

In this lesson, you have covered:

• How Alfred Stieglitz exposed Americans to the work of French modern painters in the early 1920s and then made a point of exhibiting the best American modern work and promoting several American painters including John Marin, Marsden Hartley and Georgia O'Keeffe.

• John Marin worked in watercolor to create works that were not "pure abstraction" but which were abstract impressions of reality.

• Marsden Hartley gained fame for his abstract work and then later concentrated on landscapes and figurative painting.

• Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings were both representational and abstract.

Complete the quiz before moving on.