The Exhibition of Henry Moore and Georgia O'Keeffe now at the San Diego Museum of Art and closing August 27, 2023.
Georgia
O'Keeffe
the
Muse Within
An Artist who
declined to be categorized as a Woman Artist, she was a person who
lived her life as truth as she saw it. Color. shape, texture,and
line. Her imagination created works which will be treasured for all
time. I see her work and realize that here was a soul which gave us
her self, imaged in color and infused with mystery. Georgia O'Keeffe
small in stature, but characterized monumental in her dedication to
work, and gives rise to the question of women in art and whether or
not they should be categorized as women artists or artists who paint.
I read that
women actors are now actors in the media. This should be the norm
for women in the arts of all genres. I declined to exhibit in The
National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA)
back in the day, for the reason of being labeled. I echo her stance
about labels and it is my belief that labels of any kind are not
needed, that works of art should stand on their own.
As a small child, she always
knew that she wanted to be an artist. When small it was a natural
inclination to do the drawing and was encouraged by her
mother to be herself. Her Muse within was born early and this gave
rise to the unflinching drive which was a lifelong ability to create
her art.
This muse
within gives joy, purpose, doing, completion, and the secrete smile
that comes and means the work is Truth. Done. There is no greater
feeling of worth when the nature of creating an art work is done.
It has always
been my philosophy that all children have this creative ability. They
paint with abandon, sings songs with words that only they know.
Somewhere along the way this ability is lost, and most never are
never to reconnect for many reasons. (Which is another post). Georgia
was the exception in a most wondrous way. Her Bigness, her colors and
the emotional impact of viewing her work is seductive and compelling.
The Bigness was born when she lived in Texans and contemplated the
vastness of the sky. How large it was compared to New York. How blue
and big.. This became a conscious guide for her work.
Large Flowers,
large skies, large clouds, and large bones. She collected bones from
the desert, leaves which became withered sculptures, shapes from
nature, and painted it infused
with her colors and
imagination of her environment.
In this
exhibition, Georgia O'Keeffe and Henry Moore share similarities in
combining negative space and sensuous forms. They are the elements
which give a yin- yang feeling to the over all exhibition. His being
three dimensions and hers being two dimensions. Hers bringing
exhilarating and brilliant color, and his being of a solid and
limited palette of stone, wood, and bronze.
Yes, Georgia,
you did so very well. You have given us worlds of wonder from the
heart, driven by the Muse within. As a woman and artist, I thank You.
Your work will be for All Time as an Artist, and, as a woman who
lived outside of the definition of society's of a woman's role and
inside of the world of imagination. She became one with
Nature...Above all an Artist of masterworks.