tyle, Lake George, Coat and Red (1919), a most important example of O'Keeffe's early abstract style, was a roughly brushed composition in which a twisted, mysterious form looms against a rainbow-hued sky. Early in her career she developed a personal, extremely refined style, favoring strangely natural abstract subject matter such as flower details and severe architectural themes. In 1923, O'Keeffe began painting flowers and leaves, creating some of her best-known work. Oriental Poppies and related flower paintings have been seen by some scholars as her response to such modern photographers as Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand, who "zoomed in" on and closely cropped their subject in an attempt to discover its core spirit. O'Keeffe emulates this technique in her compositions. By creating an oversized close-up of the poppies and removing them from any noticeable context, she abstracts the organic forms into black and red shapes.In Oak Leaves, Pink and Gray, O’Keeffe examines every crevice and vein of the leaves, exploring the harmony of decay and rebirth in nature, a theme prevalent in her work. Here, O'Keeffe has created a composition that is objective, because the leaves are a recognizable subject, and abstract, because the broad expanse of color compels a person to read the image in terms of pure form and color.” I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty. Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time -- like to have a friend takes time.” (O’Keeffe, pg 93) Many of her paintings were dramatic, sharp-focus enlargements of botanical details. Though O'Keeffe insisted that there was no symbolism behind her work, art critics continue to speculate about the sexual imagery in such paintings as Black Iris and Jack in the Pulpit No. 6. Without a doubt, this generative tension underlying her botanical paintings accounts for much of their ...
