In depth biography but too much info This is a very comprehensive biography of Georgia O'Keefe. It is difficult however to keep track of the names, places, dates, etc., because of all the information that is contained in the book. It might have been better if the author had broken this biography into different periods of the artist's life and/or aspects of the artist's life.
The artist's life was so full emotionally and artistically but the author often shifts back and forth between art and psyche.This often made the book difficult to follow. I wanted to understand Georgia's emotional makeup and how it contributed to the development of her art but was not able to really get a handle on this because of all the information that the author felt necessary to include. I felt there was an attempt to include too much information.
An complete portrait? This biography is factually complete, and worth reading for that reason alone, but I find two great flaws in the work: Ms. Robinson's voice intervenes loudly between the reader and the subject, and some of the judgments she reaches about Ms. O'Keeffe's actions, especially in regard to her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz seem disturbingly naive.
Why not let readers draw their own conclusions about Ms. O'Keeffe on the basis of the undeniably good research Ms. Robinson has done? And how is it possible for her to believe that, for example, the choice Ms. O'Keeffe made in becoming Stieglitz's lover was a truly free and active choice? Though O'Keeffe was a woman of thirty-one at the time, and certainly deeply attracted to Stieglitz, she was very ill and totally dependent on him. (Chapter 15 in particular details this early portion of their relationship.) He spoke of her as a "captive swan," and the description of his taking her to bed and then taking photographs of her marks him perhaps as something of a predator as well as an artist. Ms. Robinson remarks, "Georgia's willingness to collaborate, however, is unsurprising: the series [of photographs] constitutes and commemorates an act of love." Perhaps so, but to ignore other the other aspects of the situation gives an incomplete portrait of these two figures. And, in earlier chapters, the author writes in some detail of Georgia's appreciation of the potential conflict in being both an artist and a model, and this for art which was not nearly as intimate as that for which Stieglitz was using her. Although Ms. Robinson remarks briefly her thought that Georgia was aware that her collaboration in this art was important, she doesn't truly offer insight into how this reserved and independent young woman came to this conclusion.
I hope that someone building on Ms. Robinson's thorough research will write a more textured biography of this interesting and important artist.
An Incredible Biography "A Life" is the best book on painter Georgia O'Keeffe available. Every moment in Georgia's life is written about with painstaking detail. Nothing is missed. From her relationship with Alfred Steiglitz and his entourage from "291" to her intimate relationship with sculptor Juan Hamilton. I can't say enough how amazing this book is and how enjoyable it is to read.
A Beautiful and Engaging Tribute to a Brilliant Artist Georgia O'Keeffe's life was one lived with courage and beauty and Robinson does her justice by writing this beautiful and engaging biography. The author delves into O'Keeffe's life and the passion of her work by describing her family history, her evolution as an artist, and perhaps more important to O'Keeffe, her evolution toward becoming her true self. The extra and vital layer that adds even more depth to this biography is Robinson's description of the art scene and the philosophies of art circulating in early 20th century New York.
This book would be of interest not only to those who enjoy O'Keeffe's work but also to those who are trying to become themselves, those who are interested in the history of art in America, or those who like to read for the sake of feeling beautiful words flowing through their mind.
This book was difficult for me to put down and I didn't want it to end. Roxana Robinson's work is a gem.
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