Georgia O'Keeffe 1918

Curator: Alfred Stieglitz created this gelatin silver print, titled “Georgia O’Keeffe”, in 1918. Editor: Immediately striking is the deep seriousness in her gaze, and that soft-focus pictorialist aesthetic creates such an intimate feeling. You sense Stieglitz's deep emotional connection. Curator: The Stieglitz circle and their work definitely influenced a new understanding of photographic portraiture as modern art. You really feel Stieglitz challenging photographic conventions. Before this, it was strictly documentation; he elevated it to something with soul. The photo was part of his efforts to champion O’Keeffe’s art and career within the avant-garde art world, right? Editor: Exactly! And considering Stieglitz's complicated history as an art dealer and photographer of women, it seems necessary to also discuss the male gaze at play here. How did he truly support O’Keeffe and did this type of attention impact how O’Keeffe was later received by the public and the art community? I'm thinking specifically of that series where he photographs her hands...it all feels laden with an attempt to control her narrative. Curator: The public certainly framed their relationship with O’Keefe's artistic legacy through a decidedly sexual and gendered lens, unfortunately, even well into the later half of the century. To consider his photographs and her artwork together requires us to question the role each played in reinforcing and possibly destabilizing such conventions. Editor: In revisiting work such as this, we can have an impactful dialogue that contextualizes what portraiture can be—an act of artistic intervention as well as the personal connection between artist and muse. Curator: A reminder of art's intersectional layers of meaning.