Cow’s Skull with Calico RosesGeorgia O’Keeffe

Sahil PatelPeriod 5

Artist Biography

• Born on November 15, 1877 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin• Studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art

Students League in New York• Grew up in both Sun Prairie and Williamsburg,

Virginia• Married Alfred Stieglitz, a pioneer photographer, in

1924 • Died March 6, 1986 in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Visual Analysis

• Her skull paintings can be seen to represent the death and destruction of the American landscape

• They can also be seen as tributes to the animals of the Western landscape

Historical and Contextual Analysis

• While living in New Mexico, O’Keefe’s source of inspiration came from the misunderstood beauty of the desert

• Her flower idea came from a time when she was sorting artificial flowers-"when someone came to the kitchen door. As I went to

answer the door, I stuck a pink rose in the eye socket of a horse's skull. And when I came back the rose looked pretty

fine, so I thought I would just go with that."

Significance

• This piece showed off the beauty of the desert• The piece can be depicted as quietude,

remoteness and perseverance• Although the use of flowers is indicative of the

Southwestern influence since artificial flowers are often used to decorate Hispanic graves, most eastern viewers of these paintings found them more strange than anything else.