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Lot Essay
As a student, O'Keeffe struggled with the limitations of representational painting, wondering "If one could only reproduce nature, and always with less beauty than the original, why paint at all?" (as quoted in B.B. Lynes, "Inventions of Different Orders" in O'Keeffe on Paper, New York, 2000, p. 40) Fortunately, the artist discovered the potential of abstraction, and in her early works she explored the possibilities it provided. Only later did she return to subjects taken from nature, this time enriched by her experiments in form and color. In Pink Camellia, O'Keeffe uses the flower as the basis for her image, but its monumental scale and vibrant hues force the viewer to evaluate the pastel as a rhythmic and organized pattern of forms.
Whereas many Modernists such as Charles Sheeler, John Marin and Arthur Dove turned to the industrial sector for guidance and inspiration in subject matter, O'Keeffe embraced the natural world. "O'Keeffe's work, a counterresponse to technology, was soft, voluptuous and intimate. Full of rapturous colors and yielding surfaces, it furnishes a sense of astonishing discovery. . . Though the work is explicitly feminine, it is convincingly and triumphantly powerful, a combination that had not before existed."(R. Robinson, Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life, New York, 1989, p. 278) O'Keeffe applied Modernist aesthetics to natural forms as a way of drawing the viewer's attention to their often unappreciated beauty. Explaining why she chose to paint flowers, she said, "When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it it's your world for a moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not." (quoted in N. Callaway, ed. Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers, New York, 1989, np)
For Pink Camellia, O'Keeffe chose the versatile medium of pastels, combining layered pigments and expressive lines to capture the delicate shapes of the petals and stamen. Pastel, which had been used to great effect by American Impressionists, was attractive to American Modernists. It was lauded for its accessibility, allowing for "spontaneity and freedom of method...directness and simplicity...brilliancy and delicate variety." (American Pastels in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989, p. 21) For O'Keeffe in particular, "pastel afforded [her] a medium for her most unabashedly beautiful works of art. Exploiting pastel's broad range of hue and value, she was able to combine the graceful tonal imagery she had developed in charcoal with the intense abstract color she had explored in watercolor. Unexpectedly, she also found that pastel could project a captivating surface texture." (J. Walsh, "The Language of O'Keeffe's Materials: Charcoal, Watercolor, Pastel" in O'Keeffe on Paper, New York, 2000, p. 68) The velvety quality of pastel lended a greater tactility to her work, and the availability of wide ranges of color made it highly expressive. She relied on subtle gradations in color to define form and create sculptural depth. The artist discovered a great affinity for the medium, and she used pastels throughout much of her career.
Pink Camellia demonstrates O'Keeffe's ability to balance seemingly opposite forces. By magnifying a small, traditionally feminine subject, she creates a bold abstraction. The curves of the petals are transformed into expanses of delicately modulated color. Yellow stamen burst from the complimentary rosy hues of the flower. At the same time monumental and intimate, the work reflects the artist's dedication to showing the viewer the beauty and wonder in nature.
Whereas many Modernists such as Charles Sheeler, John Marin and Arthur Dove turned to the industrial sector for guidance and inspiration in subject matter, O'Keeffe embraced the natural world. "O'Keeffe's work, a counterresponse to technology, was soft, voluptuous and intimate. Full of rapturous colors and yielding surfaces, it furnishes a sense of astonishing discovery. . . Though the work is explicitly feminine, it is convincingly and triumphantly powerful, a combination that had not before existed."(R. Robinson, Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life, New York, 1989, p. 278) O'Keeffe applied Modernist aesthetics to natural forms as a way of drawing the viewer's attention to their often unappreciated beauty. Explaining why she chose to paint flowers, she said, "When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it it's your world for a moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not." (quoted in N. Callaway, ed. Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers, New York, 1989, np)
For Pink Camellia, O'Keeffe chose the versatile medium of pastels, combining layered pigments and expressive lines to capture the delicate shapes of the petals and stamen. Pastel, which had been used to great effect by American Impressionists, was attractive to American Modernists. It was lauded for its accessibility, allowing for "spontaneity and freedom of method...directness and simplicity...brilliancy and delicate variety." (American Pastels in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989, p. 21) For O'Keeffe in particular, "pastel afforded [her] a medium for her most unabashedly beautiful works of art. Exploiting pastel's broad range of hue and value, she was able to combine the graceful tonal imagery she had developed in charcoal with the intense abstract color she had explored in watercolor. Unexpectedly, she also found that pastel could project a captivating surface texture." (J. Walsh, "The Language of O'Keeffe's Materials: Charcoal, Watercolor, Pastel" in O'Keeffe on Paper, New York, 2000, p. 68) The velvety quality of pastel lended a greater tactility to her work, and the availability of wide ranges of color made it highly expressive. She relied on subtle gradations in color to define form and create sculptural depth. The artist discovered a great affinity for the medium, and she used pastels throughout much of her career.
Pink Camellia demonstrates O'Keeffe's ability to balance seemingly opposite forces. By magnifying a small, traditionally feminine subject, she creates a bold abstraction. The curves of the petals are transformed into expanses of delicately modulated color. Yellow stamen burst from the complimentary rosy hues of the flower. At the same time monumental and intimate, the work reflects the artist's dedication to showing the viewer the beauty and wonder in nature.