Magnificent Beauty: Georgia O’Keeffe and the Art of the Flower examines explorations of flowers in painting and photography by O’Keeffe and Cunningham, highlighting their unique interpretations of the traditional subject matter.
O’Keeffe redefined the tradition of floral still-life painting by incorporating techniques of photography (a relatively new medium in the early twentieth century) into her works, choosing to depict the subject cropped and at close range to focus on color and form. While Cunningham also portrayed flowers in close-up, her photographs instead call attention to the play of light and shadow as well as the subject’s intricate details, captured with precision. Magnificent Beauty demonstrates how each artist transformed the traditional subject with a modernist, and at times abstracted, take on the natural world.
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Image credit: Georgia O’Keeffe. White Bird of Paradise, 1939. Oil on canvas, 19 x 16 inches. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of Jean Holmes McDonald. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. [2009.2.1] Photo: Tim Nighswander/IMAGING4ART
