Monday Museum Mystery: Who is this Famous Artist?
Monday Museum Mysteries are back! Today, we are talking about a famous female artist from the 20th century. She was born in 1887 in Wisconsin and began going to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905. She then went to school in New York. She did not enjoy school because she felt like it confined her style of art. She dropped out of school and became a commercial illustrator and then taught at different colleges in the U.S. Do you know who she is?
She was introduced to the work of Arthur Wesley Dow, who played a significant roll in helping our mystery artist develop her own style. After her introduction to Dow, her works became increasingly abstract. The museum has her piece Abstraction of Lake George on permanent display in the Seymour Lawrence Collection of American Art. Who do you think our mystery artist is?
Our artist is most known for her close-up paintings of flowers, her New York Skylines, and her New Mexico landscapes.
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| Abstraction of Lake George, 1918 |
Our mystery artist fell in love with art dealer and photographer Alfred Stieglitz, and the two got married in 1924. A few years later, she began to spend lots of time in New Mexico, and after her husband died, she moved permanently to New Mexico. She lived to be 98 years old, and on November 15th, it was her 130th birthday! Who do you think this amazing artist was?
After you have thought long and hard about who our mystery artist is, then scroll down to the end of the post to reveal the answer!
Our mystery artist is Georgia O'Keeffe. Her works are shown all over the United States, and she has her own museum in Sante Fe, New Mexico. In 2014, one of her flower painting sold for about 44.4 million dollars, which is more than 3 times what any other female artists' work has auctioned for. She is an incredible artist, and the University Museum is very lucky to have one of her works on display.
