Red Canna (paintings)

Last updated
Red Canna
Red Canna (1924) by Georgia O'Keeffe.jpg
Artist Georgia O'Keeffe
Year1924
MediumOil
Dimensions73.7 cm× 45.7 cm(29.0 in× 18.0 in)

Georgia O'Keeffe made a number of Red Canna paintings of the canna lily plant, first in watercolor, such as a red canna flower bouquet painted in 1915, but primarily abstract paintings of close-up images in oil. O'Keeffe said that she made the paintings to reflect the way she herself saw flowers, although others have called her depictions erotic, and compared them to female genitalia. O'Keeffe said they had misconstrued her intentions for doing her flower paintings: "Well – I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower – and I don't." [1]

Contents

O'Keeffe was aware of the sexual implications in her work, but male art reviewers' misinterpretations of these references reinforced a sexual perception of her work that was diametrically opposed to her original goal. [2] She expressed herself through the use of vibrant colors like red, yellow, and orange.

Background

A gardener, O'Keeffe was often inspired to make a dozen or more paintings of a specific flower. [3] She became interested in brilliant colors and billowy petals of the canna lilies when she visited Lake George, New York in 1918 with Alfred Stieglitz. [4] The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts states that "In these extreme close-ups she established a new kind of modern still life with no references to atmospheric effects or realistic details, reflecting her statement, 'I paint because color is significant.'" [3]

As she evolved as an artist, her works became suggestive of female form, like Inside Red Canna. Paul Rosenfeld, who owned one of her Red Canna paintings, said "... there is no stroke laid by her brush, whatever it is she may paint, that is not curiously, arrestingly female in quality. Essence of very womanhood permeates her pictures." [5]

Red Canna (1915) watercolor

Georgia O'Keeffe, Red Canna, 1915, Yale University Art Gallery Georgia O'Keeffe Red Canna 1915 Yale University Art Gallery.tif
Georgia O'Keeffe, Red Canna, 1915, Yale University Art Gallery

In 1915, O'Keeffe painted a watercolor of a bouquet of red canna blossoms on paper. The work, 19+3⁄8 by 13 inches (49.2 cm × 33.0 cm), is among the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery. [6]

Small Red Canna (1919)

A small painting of a close-up of a red canna lily was made by O'Keeffe in 1919. The 8 in × 6 in (20.3 cm × 15.2 cm) oil painting depicts the flower against a dark cloudy background. Owned by a private collector, it is on extended loan to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. [7] It was stolen from the Santa Fe, New Mexico museum by a security guard, William Crumpton, who pleaded guilty on October 26, 2004 to stealing paintings and cash from the museum and a government office. The painting, valued at equivalent to $774,665in 2022, was recovered. [8]

Red Canna (1919)

Georgia O'Keeffe, Red Canna, 1919, High Museum of Art, Atlanta Georgia O'Keeffe Red Canna 1919 HMA.jpg
Georgia O'Keeffe, Red Canna, 1919, High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Painted in oil on a 13 in × 9+1⁄2 in (33.0 cm × 24.1 cm) board, the red canna lily framed by green and dark yellow background colors at the top and right of the painting and dark blue at the bottom and left. [9] The carefully blended colors and voluptuous curves reflect her emerging personal style. [4] Once owned by Pollitzer family members of North Carolina, [9] it was displayed at Columbia College in South Carolina, where O'Keeffe was an instructor. [10] The painting was acquired by High Museum of Art of Atlanta by 2015. [9] [10]

Inside Red Canna (1919)

She painted an extreme close-up of the canna lily entitled Inside the Red Canna in 1919. [11] It is a depiction of the large petals of the exterior of the flower, with focus on the interior through the use of contrasting shades of colors. The painting was made with red, orange, brown, and pink paint. [12] The 22 in × 17 in (56 cm × 43 cm) abstract oil painting is owned by private collectors. [13]

O'Keeffe's Red Canna (1923)

Abstraction so close up—one is immersed reds swelling from whites to pinks soft velvet reds
bleed into liquid rubies teasing like a swirling
skirt softly blowing in the
breeze—morning sunlight looking
through the vibrant blood
of life awakening the
morning light sun parting
vibrations of pounding hearts

—Image to Word: Art and Creative Writing [14]

Red Canna (1923)

The version made in 1923 is an oil painting of a red canna lily against a yellow background. The Lily nearly fills the 12 in × 10 in (30 cm × 25 cm) canvas. It is owned by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [15]

Red Canna (1924)

External images
Searchtool.svg Red Canna, 1923,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Searchtool.svg Red Canna, 1927,
Amon Carter Museum of American Art

The 1924 painting, a close-up of the flower with streaks of light blue and gray, [16] immerses the viewer in the blossom, and is meant to convey the way that O'Keeffe experiences it. [17]

In the 1920s it was believed to be among the collection of Flora Stieglitz Strauss and possibly that of O'Keeffe in 1953. It was in private collections until 1993, when it was acquired by Sotheby's in New York. It was last recorded to be in the private collection of A. Alfred Taubman. [16]

Red Canna (1925–1926)

She painted the interior of the flower in reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks. Painted in oil, the abstract painting is 36 by 30 inches (91 cm × 76 cm). It is owned by the University of Arizona Museum of Art. [18]

Red and Orange Canna (1926)

Another close-up painted in oil, the 20 in × 16 in (51 cm × 41 cm) painting is among the collection of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. [19] [20]

Red Cannas (1927)

In 1927, O'Keeffe made a painting of a close-up of the wide red petals of the canna lily. Painted in oil, it is 36+1⁄8 by 30+1⁄8 inches (91.8 cm × 76.5 cm). Once among private collections, it is now owned by Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia O'Keeffe</span> American modernist artist (1887–1986)

Georgia Totto O'Keeffe was an American modernist painter and draftswoman whose career spanned seven decades and whose work remained largely independent of major art movements. Called the "Mother of American modernism", O'Keeffe gained international recognition for her meticulous paintings of natural forms, particularly flowers and desert-inspired landscapes, which were often drawn from and related to places and environments in which she lived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia O'Keeffe Museum</span> Art museum and historic property in New Mexico, USA

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum is dedicated to the artistic legacy of Georgia O'Keeffe, her life, American modernism, and public engagement. It opened on July 17, 1997, eleven years after the artist's death. It comprises multiple sites in two locations: Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Abiquiu, New Mexico. In addition to the founding Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, the O'Keeffe includes: the Library and Archive within its research center at the historic A.M. Bergere house; the Education Annex for youth and public programming; Georgia O'Keeffe's historic Abiquiu Home and Studio; the O'Keeffe Welcome Center in Abiquiu; and Museum Stores in both Santa Fe and Abiquiu. Georgia O'Keeffe's additional home at the Ghost Ranch property is also part of the O'Keeffe Museum's assets, but is not open to the public.

<i>Cows Skull: Red, White, and Blue</i> Painting by Georgia OKeeffe

Cow's Skull: Red, White, and Blue is a painting by American artist Georgia O'Keeffe. It depicts a cow skull centered in front of what appears to be a cloth background. In the center of the background is a vertical black stripe, surrounded by two vertical stripes of white laced with blue. Outside are two vertical red stripes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florine Stettheimer</span> American painter

Florine Stettheimer was an American modernist painter, feminist, theatrical designer, poet, and salonnière.

<i>I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold</i> Painting by Charles Demuth

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, also known as The Figure 5 in Gold, is a 1928 painting by American artist Charles Demuth. It has been described as influenced by Futurism and Cubism.

<i>Blue and Green Music</i> Painting by Georgia OKeeffe

Blue and Green Music is a 1919–1921 painting by the American painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharine Rhoades</span> American painter

Katharine Nash Rhoades was an American painter, poet and illustrator born in New York City. She was also a feminist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marion H. Beckett</span> American painter (1886–1949)

Marion Hasbrouck Beckett was an American painter.

Rebecca Salsbury James (1891–1968) was a self-taught American painter, born in London, England of American parents who were traveling with the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. She settled in New York City, where she married photographer Paul Strand. Following her divorce from Strand, James moved to Taos, New Mexico where she fell in with a group that included Mabel Dodge Luhan, Dorothy Brett, and Frieda Lawrence. In 1937 she married William James, a businessman from Denver, Colorado who was then operating the Kit Carson Trading Company in Taos. She remained in Taos until her death in 1968.

<i>Oriental Poppies</i> Painting by Georgia OKeeffe

Oriental Poppies, also called Red Poppies, is a 1927 oil-on-canvas painting by Georgia O'Keeffe. It is a close-up of two Papaver orientale flowers that fill the entire canvas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O'Keeffe at the University of Virginia, 1912–1914</span>

O’Keeffe at the University of Virginia, 1912–1914 is an exhibition of watercolors that Georgia O'Keeffe created over three summers in the early 20th century at the University of Virginia. Shown at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the exhibit opened November 4, 2016 and ran through September 10, 2017. A year later, on October 19, 2018, the exhibition opened at the Fralin Museum of Art on the grounds of the University of Virginia, where it remained on display until January 27, 2019.

Light Coming on the Plains is the name of three watercolor paintings made by Georgia O'Keeffe in 1917. They were made when O'Keeffe was teaching at West Texas State Normal College in Canyon, Texas. They reflect the evolution of her work towards pure abstraction, and an early American modernist landscape. It was unique for its time. Compared to Sunrise that she painted one year earlier, it was simpler and more abstract.

<i>The Flag</i> (OKeeffe painting) 1918 painting by Georgia OKeeffe

The Flag is a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe (1918), that represents her anxiety about her brother being sent to fight in Europe during World War I, a war that was particularly controversial and dangerous due to its use of new modern weapons and tactics, like the machine gun, mustard gas, naval mines and torpedoes, high-powered artillery guns, and combat aircraft. Due to government restrictions on the freedom of speech included in the Espionage Act of 1917 the painting was not displayed until 1968. It is in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum.

The early works of American artist Georgia O'Keeffe are those made before she was introduced to the principles of Arthur Wesley Dow in 1912.

<i>Black Iris</i> (painting) Painting by Georgia OKeeffe

Black Iris, sometimes called Black Iris III, is a 1926 oil painting by Georgia O'Keeffe. Art historian Linda Nochlin interpreted Black Iris as a morphological metaphor for female genitalia. O'Keeffe rejected such interpretations in a 1939 text accompanying an exhibition of her work by writing: "Well—I made you take time to look at what I saw and when you took time to really notice my flower you hung all your own associations with flowers on my flower and you write about my flower as if I think and see what you think and see of the flower—and I don't." She attempted to do away with sexualized readings of her work by adding a lot of detail.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York skyscraper paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe</span> Series of paintings by Georgia OKeeffe

Georgia O'Keeffe created a series of paintings of skyscrapers in New York City between 1925 and 1929. They were made after O'Keeffe moved with her new husband into an apartment on the 30th floor of the Shelton Hotel, which gave her expansive views of all but the west side of the city. She expressed her appreciation of the city's early skyscrapers that were built by the end of the 1920s. One of her most notable works, which demonstrates her skill at depicting the buildings in the Precisionist style, is the Radiator Building—Night, New York, of the American Radiator Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flower paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe</span> Paintings made between 1920s and 1950s

The American artist Georgia O'Keeffe is best known for her close-up, or large-scale flower paintings, which she painted from the mid-1920s through the 1950s. She made about 200 paintings of flowers of the more than 2,000 paintings that she made over her career. One of her paintings, Jimson Weed, sold for $44.4 million, making it the most expensive painting sold of a female artist's work as of 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ida O'Keeffe</span> American visual artist

Ida Ten Eyck O'Keeffe was an American visual artist known for oil paintings, watercolors, and monotypes. She was the younger sister of painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

<i>Summer Days</i> (Georgia OKeeffe) Painting by Georgia OKeeffe from 1936

Summer Days is a 1936 oil painting by the American 20th-century artist Georgia O'Keeffe. It depicts a buck deer skull with large antlers juxtaposed with a vibrant assortment of wildflowers hovering below. The skull and flowers are suspended over a mountainous desert landscape occupying the lower part of the composition. Summer Days is among several landscape paintings featuring animal skulls and inspired by New Mexico desert O'Keeffe completed between 1934 and 1936.

<i>Sky Above Clouds</i> Painting series by Georgia OKeeffe

Sky Above Clouds (1960–1977) is a series of cloudscape paintings by American artist Georgia O'Keeffe produced during her late period. The works were completed at her home and studio in Abiquiú and at her Ghost Ranch studio in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Only four paintings in the series share the same motif–a pink sky above the horizon with patches of cloudlets, or cloud streets below it, progressing from smaller to larger canvases. The motif was inspired by views from her airplane window during her frequent air travel in the 1950s and early 1960s when she flew around the world. Sky above Clouds IV, the fourth version in the shared motif of the series, is two meters high and seven meters wide. It is the largest painting ever created by the artist, accomplished at the age of 77 in the summer of 1965. Two of the paintings in the series are held by private collectors, while the rest are found in the National Gallery of Art, the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

References

  1. ↑ Claxton, Mae Miller (Spring 2003). "'Untamable Texts': The Art of Georgia O'Keeffe and Eudora Welty". Mississippi Quarterly: 315–30 – via EBSCO Host.
  2. ↑ Chave, A.C. (Winter 1990). "O'Keeffe and the Masculine Gaze". Art in America. 78: 114 – via EBSCOhost.
  3. 1 2 "Red Canna". Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Red Canna". High Museum of Art. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  5. ↑ Marcia Brennan (August 2002). Painting Gender, Constructing Theory: The Alfred Stieglitz Circle and American Formalist Aesthetics. MIT Press. pp. 3, 86. ISBN   978-0-262-52336-3.
  6. ↑ "Artist: Georgia O'Keeffe, American, 1887–1986 Red Canna". The Yale University Art Gallery. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Red Canna, (painting) – 1919, extended loan to Georgia O'Keeffe Museum". Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  8. ↑ Steve Barnes (October 29, 2004). "National Briefing: Southwest: New Mexico: Ex-Guard Admits O'Keeffe Theft". The New York Times. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 "Red Canna, (painting) – 1919". Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  10. 1 2 Mary Eloise H. Leake (December 13, 2015). "100 years ago, Georgia O'Keeffe came to the South and was forever changed". The Anniston Star. Anniston, Alabama. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  11. ↑ Barbara Buhler Lynes; Jonathan Weinberg; Georgia O'Keeffe Museum (9 March 2011). Shared Intelligence: American Painting and the Photograph. Univ of California Press. p. 92. ISBN   978-0-520-26906-4.
  12. ↑ Marcia Brennan (August 2002). Painting Gender, Constructing Theory: The Alfred Stieglitz Circle and American Formalist Aesthetics. MIT Press. p. 7. ISBN   978-0-262-52336-3.
  13. ↑ "Inside Red Canna, (painting) – 1919". Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  14. ↑ Kathleen Walsh-Piper (2002). Image to Word: Art and Creative Writing. Scarecrow Press. pp. 28–29. ISBN   978-0-8108-4307-3.
  15. ↑ "Red Canna, (painting) – 1923". Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  16. 1 2 "Red Canna, (painting) – 1924". Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  17. ↑ David Taffet (November 19, 1999). "Still Life Resurrection". Dallas Voice. Dallas, Texas. Retrieved January 13, 2017– via UNT Digital Library, The University of North Texas Libraries.
  18. ↑ "Red Canna, (painting) – 1925/1926". Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Red Canna, (painting) – 1926". Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  20. ↑ "About the University of Arizona Museum of Art". University of Arizona Museum of Art. Retrieved January 13, 2017. The wide-ranging collection boasts over 6,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings. Highlights include the Altarpiece of Ciudad Rodrigo, The Visitation by the Master of the Catholic Kings, Jackson Pollock's Number 20, Mark Rothko's Green on Blue (Earth-Green and White), and Red Canna by Georgia O'Keeffe.
  21. ↑ "Red Cannas, (painting) – 1927". Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS). Retrieved January 13, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.