Well the Missus and I trundled up to Salem the other day to catch Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image, Style at the Peabody Essex Museum and, say, it was swell.
(Full disclosure: Neither of us is all that crazy about O’Keeffe’s skull ‘n’ bones New Mexico paintings. We much prefer her earlier work, as exhibited in the 2009 Circles of Influence show at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.)
Regardless . . .
Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image, Style is the first exhibition to explore the art, image and personal style of one of America’s most iconic artists. O’Keeffe’s understated and carefully
designed garments, many never before exhibited, are presented alongside photographs and her paintings, illuminating O’Keeffe’s unified modernist aesthetic and distinctive self-styling. For more than 70 years, O’Keeffe shaped her public persona, defied labels and carved out a truly progressive, independent life in order to create her art. Her aesthetic legacy — compact masses, organic silhouettes, minimal ornamentation, and restrained color palettes — continues to capture the popular imagination and inspire leading designers and tastemakers of our day.
As for O’Keefe’s earlier work, the exhibit has some excellent examples. Representative sample:
Georgia O’Keefe: Art, Image, Style runs through April 1. Well worth the trip.