Two Prolific Artists: O'Keeffe & Picasso

Pablo Picasso in his 20s in Montmartre, the golden age of his early years in Paris.

Corn, Dark I, by Georgia O'Keeffe

By Michael Hooper

Trying to stay warm this winter, I have sat by the fireplace reading biographies about two great artists: Georgia O'Keeffe A Life by Roxana Robinson, and Picasso Creator and Destroyer by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington. I couldn't have picked two more fascinating and independent people, O'Keeffe is escaping from patronizing men into an independent feminine mystique while Picasso the raging bull has extensive relationships with multiple women. Both artists lived into their 90s yet made their mark at various stages in their lives. 

Georgia O'Keeffe became known for a very distinctive style of color patterns of nature, especially in the Southwest where her views of the desert landscape and big sky were evocative and much loved. She was also known for her enlarged flowers that had a sexuality about them.

O'Keeffe was married to Alfred Stieglitz, the famed photographer and gallery promoter who sold her work. Some of her paintings sold for thousands of dollars in the 1930s. Stieglitz photographed O'Keeffe nude and exhibited the photographs as art. O'Keeffe painted leaves, branches or bones she found on walks. She worked in a studio that was a former shack on the Stieglitz family farm at Lake George, N.Y.

O'Keeffe moved out west for the back half of her life, settling at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. Eventually one of her hired hands Juan Hamilton takes control with power of attorney over her finances and inherits most of her money through changes in her will. Her estate was worth $70 million. Her family sued and received a settlement.

At one time O'Keeffe had a chance to be introduced to Picasso but she declined the offer because she said they wouldn't be able to speak to one another, according to Robinson's book.

Pablo Picasso was a precocious child prodigy from Malaga, Spain, who could draw anything and excelled beyond his father who was an art teacher. When Picasso was almost 19 years old, he arrived in Paris speaking no French and having no place to stay but quickly found an art studio and fell into Parisian life of cafes and shows, artwork and brothels. He learned to speak French and lived in France most of his life. 

Picasso emulated multiple styles and was an inventor of styles like his African-influenced period and his cubism. He was good at every style he worked in. Picasso's Rose Period, his Blue Period and his Cubism all are so fascinating. I saw his Old Guitarist at the Guggenheim. Picasso was quick to draw and paint canvases; he produced tens of thousands of works of art, sculpture and drawings.

Yet Huffington spends much of her book on the woman's point of view, the day-to-day living with this insufferable man with a raging passion for sex. Picasso would find a model and then keep her around and sleep with her and sometimes marry her or just put her on the payroll. Dora Maar is a good example of a model with a sexual relationship with him while he was still attached to another woman. His infidelity would drive women crazy. Yet his life with them was often brilliant with encounters with Henri Matisse and Gertrude Stein and other interesting people of the day. Dora Maar was not the same person after Picasso got rid of her.

Huffington depends largely on the published works and interviews with Francois Gilot, Picasso's former former lover and mother of Claude Pierre. Gilot published a memoir, "Life With Picasso" in 1964 with author Carlton Lake.

I enjoyed reading about Pablo Picasso in his 20s in Montmartre, the golden age of his early years in Paris. Before long, he had met Gertrude Stein in Paris, and many other artists. Picasso had his gang of friends. They would go to bull fights. Somehow he became a member of the Communist Party. It's kind of a strange trip in the end, very sad when he shuns his children and grandchildren.

With the O'Keeffe book, I got a sense of O'Keeffe's feeling and intuition in art. The Picasso book was a very good book too, but felt it could have provided more discussions and photographs of his artworks and how Picasso was so influential with certain artworks. Both books are enriching and entertaining. Both Picasso and O'Keeffe led long and prolific lives.