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| Georgia O'Keeffe, Lake George Barns, 1926, oil on canvas (http://www.afanews.com/articles/item/1860-modern-nature-georgia-okeeffe-and-lake-george) |
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| Georgia O'Keeffe, My Shanty, Lake George, 1922 (http://www.wikiart.org/en/georgia-o-keeffe/my-shanty-lake-george) |
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| Georgia O'Keeffe, Lake George Autumn, 1927, oil on canvas (http://collection.mam.org/details.php?id=5948) |
O'Keeffe's paintings are concentrated versions of classic Adirondack paintings. They are not realistic, but the traditional orange-red coloring is vividly present in Lake George Autumn, and this painting portrays a classic Adirondack topic: a lake and mountains. O'Keeffe seems to only focus on what is most important to her, and that seems to be shape and color. Her paintings exude a lot of emotion and movement, and reflect the wild nature of the Adirondacks.
I love your point about O'Keeffe using abstract shapes to portray the feeling of the scene, rather than a more realistic depiction. In some ways, I think this can be more successful than strictly realist paintings. Personally, after going through numerous realist paintings of wide, sweeping, beautiful landscapes, they all start to blend together. They are still beautiful and impressive, of course, but not often innovative, and therefore unsuccessful in portraying to me the overwhelming feelings that come from standing atop a mountain, and looking out at the vast landscape. O'Keeffe provides a refreshing side to Adirondack painting. We see only the most important parts of the landscape; the colors, the shapes, the movement, and the emotion. This is both different from other painters, and therefore eye-catching, as well as more specific and focused in terms of reflecting the emotional experiences that the Adirondacks provide.
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