Georgia O'Keeffe & Newly Tate Modern Extension

Alfred Stieglitz - Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918

A story on Georgia O'Keeffe and the newly opened Tate Modern extension

Tate Modern in London is showing the first ever British retrospective of the American artist Georgia O'Keeffe until October 30. O'Keeffe is best known for her sensual, detailed depictions of flowers but this show reveals other lesser known aspects of her work. In particular, she was a pioneer of American abstraction, represented here by a series of paintings from New Mexico that showcase her visceral emotional response to that dramatic landscape.

The exhibition brings together more than 100 major works from over 60 lenders in 23 U.S. states, offering a unique opportunity to see so many iconic works under one roof. A highlight is the famous still-life study "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, 1932". The most expensive painting sold at auction by a female artist, it is being shown in Britain for the first time in 20 years.

Other high points include "Grey Lines with Black", a rhythmic swirling of colour drawing into a central womb-like vortex, and the super-sensuous "Oriental Poppies 1927".

Born in 1887, O'Keeffe died in 1986. The exhibition spans the full 70-year arc of her artistic career, starting with her early work in 1916 and 1917 when she first showed at Gallery 291, owned by the photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz, who discovered O'Keeffe, later married her. One room is dedicated to the relationship between the couple, with O'Keeffe as muse and collaborator .

Another room concentrates on her representations and abstractions of flowers.

But what intrigued her most of all was nature and landscape -- especially the unusual high desert plateau geography of New Mexico, where she eventually lived for many years.

When I got to New Mexico, that was mine," she said. "As soon as I saw it, that was my country. I'd never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly. It's something that's in the air -- it's different. The sky is different, the wind is different."

While visiting the show it's worth making a small detour to take in Switch House, the new Tate Modern extension which opened to the public on 17 June. The building is designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron who also designed the original conversion of the Bankside Power Station in 2000. The most important new cultural building to open in Britain since the British library, it gives the gallery an additional 60% of space to house many recently acquired art works from all over the world.

Free displays from the gallery's permanent collection have been completely re-hung to feature 800 works by more than 300 artists from over 50 countries, ranging from Chile to India, Russia and Sudan to Thailand.

Half of the solo displays are dedicated to female artists. The Tate Modern's new director Frances Morris, appointed in January, says women artists have been under-represented in the past and she means to redress the imbalance. The collection is now more diverse in other ways too, with photography, performance and film and digital technology more inclusively integrated into the Tate Modern experience.

Highlights include a room dedicated to the French artist Louise Bourgeois and a giant tower of 800 radios by the Brazilian Cildo Meireles.

Article by Claudia Barbieri

伦敦泰特现代美术馆举办美国艺术家Georgia O'Keeffe在英国的首次回顾展，展览将持续到10月30日。O’Keeffe以感性细腻的花朵绘画而著名，但这次回顾展展示了她在工作上鲜为人知的方面。特别是，她是美国抽象派的先驱，这里一系列来自新墨西哥的画，戏剧性的情景展示她内心的情感反应。

展览汇集了美国23个州60余位款人超过100多件主要藏品，使得这次展览将成为在英国难得一见的全方位观赏欧姬芙作品的机会。一大亮点是著名的静物作品《曼陀罗草，白花No.1，1932》。最昂贵的油画被一位女艺人拍走，这是英国20年来第一次。

其他的亮点比如《黑色灰线》，有节奏感的彩色旋转图旋转到中央子宫般的旋涡，还有超感性的《东方罂粟1927》。

O'Keeffe生于1887年,逝世于1986年。展览横跨整个70年，1916年开始她的艺术生涯， 1917年，在二九一画廊举办了她的第一次画展，摄影师Alfred Stieglitz是画廊主人，后来娶了O'Keeffe。一个展厅是专门展示夫妇之间的关系, O'Keeffe既是Alfred Stieglitz的缪斯也是合伙人。

另一个房间集中于她的表现和抽象的花朵。

但最吸引O'Keeffe的是自然和景观,尤其是新墨西哥沙漠高原的地貌,在那里她住了许多年。

“当我到达新墨西哥的时候，那是我的，”她说。“我一看到它，就有归属感。我以前从来没有见过像它一样的东西，但它完全符合我的想象。空中有所不同——天空是不同的，风是不同的。”

参观展览期间，值得绕道去新泰特现代美术馆扩建的部分，6月17日向公众开放。由建筑师Herzog和de Meuron设计，2000年，他们设计河岸发电站原始转换。英国开放除大英图书馆最重要的新文化建筑,它给画廊增加60%的空间，容纳许多最近收购的来自世界各地的艺术作品。

画廊永久展品的免费展览重新展出800件作品，这些作品50多个国家300多名艺术家,从智利到印度,俄罗斯和泰国苏丹。

一半的展览是献给女性艺术家的。泰特现代美术馆的新馆长Frances Morris一月上任，她认为女性艺术家过去不被重视，她想要改善这种不平衡。展品现在在其他方面也更加多样化，摄影、表演、电影和数字技术范围融入泰特现代美术馆。

亮点包括专门为法国艺术家Louise Bourgeois开设的展厅和巴西Cildo Meireles的一个800电台巨型塔。

Claudia Barbieri所著的文章