Georgia O'Keeffe: Visions Of The Sublime Published by International Arts/The Torch Press.
Edited by Joseph Czestochowski. Essays by Eugenia Parry, Robert Rosenblum, James Turrell, Marjorie Balge-Crozier, Charles C. Eldredge, Therese Mulligan, Barbara Novak, Sharyn R. Udall, and John Wilmerding. Even in her earliest works, Georgia O'Keeffe was a visionary who intuitively created her own definitions of the sublime, enhanced the perception of its visual symbols, and provided new ways to view the surrounding environment and explore one's inner self. Over the past two centuries, the concept of the sublime has been substantially redefined by a small number of artists, writers, and critics, for whom it has become a vital source of spiritual values at times of increased secularism. For O'Keeffe, already imbued with the spiritual and transcendental, the sublime was not a theoretical concept; it was manifest in her everyday worldly experiences. Although most of O'Keeffe's works are landscapes, the sublime, for her, was not necessarily associated with a physical location; hers was a state of mind in which nature and the sublime transcended specific times and places--though every aspect of her surroundings spoke to her. As only few others have, O'Keeffe demonstrated an intuitive association with all that can be considered sublime, and in her remarkable journey with color, line, light, and form, from the abstract to the representational, she pursued a spiritual quest that has dramatically refined the visual qualities of the sublime. Her work spoke directly to 20th-century modern art with an originality and vitality that today retains a relevance not easily equaled.
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