Red Cannas
Object Description
O’Keeffe began painting flowers in the mid-1920s as a continuation of her experiments with compositions that bordered on abstraction. Unveiled at the New York gallery run by her husband, the photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, these works were an immediate sensation.
In pictures such as Red Cannas, O’Keeffe devised a modernist style of close-up, tightly cropped, and vibrantly colored imagery that presented viewers with a radical new way of imagining and perceiving the natural world. Critics soon attempted to explain the significance of her floral imagery, including Stieglitz, who offered explicitly erotic interpretations that O’Keeffe opposed. She maintained that her paintings were best understood as expressions of her unwavering commitment to creative independence. “Before I put a brush to canvas,” she explained, “I question, ‘Is this mine? Is it all intrinsically of myself? Is it influenced by some idea or some photograph of an idea which I have acquired from some man?’”
—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)
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American Still LifeFebruary 14–August 16, 2015
Organized in celebration of a recent acquisition, American Still Life highlights the ability of 19th and 20th-century American artists to celebrate the ordinary through their paintings, whether trompe l’oeil masters or modernist photographers.
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From Remington to O’Keeffe: The Carter’s Greatest HitsOctober 6, 2018–March 22, 2019
During the renovation, this exhibition features highlights from the permanent collection, including paintings, photographs, and sculptures, by some of America’s most renowned artists.
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Teacher Resources
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How do artists use scale and proportion to create a unique composition?
In what ways do color, line, and shape affect the mood of a work of art?
How might a work of art, based on a natural object, compare to a scientific drawing of the same object?
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All Levels
Give students viewfinders, objects, pencils, and paper. They will use their viewfinders to focus on one part of an object. They will then sketch a close-up of that section on their paper so that they can practice looking at very small details.
Take students outside to photograph nature using tablets or smartphones. Students should bring the lens very close to the object and look carefully to set up their composition before snapping a photograph.