The Role That Alfred Stieglitz Played in Georgia O'Keeffe's Creativity and Mental Health
O’Keeffe and Stieglitz had a complicated relationship with one another as she effectively replaced not only his wife Emmy. O’Keeffe is quoted as saying, “he photographed me until I was crazy.”
I’ve been immersed in sharing with you my work related to Georgia O’Keefe including my own art, excerpts from my published book, and selections that never made it into the published book. Today I’ll share the story of her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz and its relationship to her creativity and mental health, which was told as only a few lines in the published book but was originally this longer version …
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Georgia O’Keeffe was engaged in a turbulent decades-long relationship with high-profile artist-photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who in many ways inspired her art career, but who also contributed to her emotional ups and downs.
When Stieglitz’s daughter Katherine, or Kitty as she was called, was born in the late nineteenth century the photographer made a goal to document her entire life in photos. His then-wife Emmy thought he was ruining their daughter’s life by following her around with a camera and put an end to it. He never forgot this dream, though, and when he met O’Keeffe, she replaced Kitty as his muse for this lifelong documentary project. O’Keeffe is quoted as saying, “he photographed me until I was crazy.”
Stieglitz documented every part of O’Keeffe’s changing body over the course of about two decades, beginning when she was 30 and he was 53. At the start of their affair, in 1918, Emmy caught the two of them in a risque photo session. She threw Stieglitz out, and he moved in with O’Keeffe, at which time his daughter Kitty cut off all contact with him.
(below the paywall you can read about the intricate complexities of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz's relationship, more about its impact on Kitty, O'Keeffe's struggles with depression and hospitalization for “psychoneurosis” and some thoughts about the intersection of mental health and artistic creativity …)
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