O'Keeffe & Stieglitz: An American Romance
Review: This dual biography follows the lives and work of renowned painter Georgia O'Keeffee and her long-time partner and famous photographer, art patron, and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz. Born in 1887 to a well to do farming family, O'Keeffe and her siblings ended up largely destitute in Virginia after her father squandered the family money. In college, she began really pursuing her interest and supported her work through teaching art at various colleges and schools. A turning point to her career came when she met gallery owner and photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who was taken aback by her work. Stieglitz was much older, (unhappily) married with a daughter, and from a rather prosperous background. Through his promotion and her own talent and connections, O'Keeffee became a well known and prosperous artist who eventually supported him in his final years. O'Keeffee lived forty years after Stieglitz and embraced life in the mid-west. When she died, she left an estate worth a considerable fortune and hundreds of pieces of work.
The author does an excellent job of not only conveying the details of their lives and their work, but also the deeply complicated psychological motivation behind their life choices. While the title terms theirs a "romance," in many ways it wasn't so much. Although drawn to each other, both were the type to fall in and out with people regularly and both had other lovers throughout their long relationship. Both were deeply flawed individuals and were frequently cruelest to those who loved them best, ruthlessly dropping friends, and insulting friends and relatives over real and perceived slights. Georgia in particularly seemed to lash out and deliberately attempt to hurt those that slighted her or of whom she was jealous; "that she was frequently and gratuitously cruel is documented by all who knew her" (398). Their lives mostly consisted of time spent in New York City among other artists, with Alfred's family at his summer home, and for Georgia, out west where she felt the most inspired and at home. In the last years of their relationship, it was largely a business and friend transaction, with Georgia conducting relationships with both men and women out west and arranging for Alfred's care from afar.
A well researched look at two larger than life American artists of the twentieth century. Their lives and art defied societal norms. In a world that mostly demanded that women marry and become mothers, Georgia instead wore what she wanted, loved who she wanted, lived where she wanted, and managed to become successful and wealthy in her own right.
Stars: 4
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