1996 Georgia O'Keeffe Plate Block of 4 32c Postage Stamps - MNH, OG - Sc# 3069

In 1996 the USPS honored one of America's leading artists, Georgia O'Keeffe well known for her sensitive, semi-abstract paintings derived from nature. Linked with the first generation of modernists, her impressive career spanned the entire history of modern art. While much of the modernist work showed a strong European influence, O'Keeffe developed her own unique style, reducing and simplifying forms to an abstract study of color and light. Born on November 15, 1887, she was raised near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. O'Keeffe went on to study at several schools, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Virginia University, Columbia University, and the Students League of New York. Her first solo exhibition at Alfred Steiglitz's avant-garde gallery "291" attracted national attention. Much of her work, especially her popular flower paintings, was influenced by Steiglitz, whose photographs included closely cropped images. During her lifetime, O'Keeffe produced more than 200 flower paintings. Their spectacular size, coupled with the bold use of colors and often sensual shapes, made them subject to varying, and sometimes controversial, interpretations. In 1924, she and Steiglitz were married. O'Keeffe was strongly impressed by the beauty of the desert during a visit to New Mexico in 1929, and the Southwest landscape also became one of her favorite subjects. In fact, many of her paintings incorporated elements of the Southwest, including rocks, animal skulls, and expansive blue skies. During the 1950s, she began traveling extensively, and in 1959, even made a trip around the world. From that journey and subsequent flights came her series on the sky and clouds. O'Keeffe died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on March 6, 1986. She was 98 years old. The stamp features her well-known painting titled "Red Poppy, 1927."