Georgia O Keefe and American Intellectual and Visual Traditions A response
It is undeniable that Georgia O’Keefe’s art was a unique extension of the contemporary avant-garde. ... In fact, O’Keefe stylistically and thematically borrows from long-standing elements of American and European art. Moreover, even O’Keefe’s submission to intuition is not an unechoed instinctual drive but a philosophical approach, widely championed by her peers, particularly the Stieglitz circle. In the spirit of American artistic progression, O’Keefe did not chronologically emerge from her predecessors but personally retraced and selectively adopted long-lived artistic motifs until she transcended tradition and derailed from her contemporaries. ... Categorically, O’Keefe propagated the genres of American flower painting, landscape painting and Western art. ... O’Keefe’s simplicity and lucid form also suggests Japanese art, not only in its physical appearance but also in the implied unhurriedness of its creation.