NOVEMBER 15, 1887 . Georgia O'Keeffe, patently one of the most important artists in history was born on this date near Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. We celebrated her milestone 130th birthday during the landmark exhibition, Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern . Watch our video postcard above!

In the Studio , William Merritt Chase (1849–1916), circa 1884, oil on canvas. Frame: 50 x 33 3/8 in. (127 x 84.8 cm) Canvas: 39 1/4 x 22 3/4 in. (99.7 x 57.8 cm). Original Purchase Fund from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, ARCA, and Anne Cannon Forsyth.

Georgia Totto O'Keeffe studied at the Art Institute of Chicago between 1905 and 1906 and the Art Students League in New York between 1907 and 1908. It was in New York that O'Keeffe studied with William Merritt Chase. Chase, whose aesthetic blended the technical grace of the Old Masters, combined with the brush agility of the Impressionists (O'Keeffe called it a "dash-and-go" style), instructed some of the 20th century's most renowned artists like Joseph Stella , George Bellows , and John Marin . It was with Chase that O'Keeffe learned to paint the realism that laid the foundation for her early works depicting the skyline of New York City and still lifes including animal bones, skulls, and flowers.

Georgia O'Keeffe's Pool in the Woods, Lake George (left) as seen in Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern at Reynolda House.

Yet Reynolda's own Pool in the Woods, Lake George (1922) is a decidedly abstracted landscape. She did not want to paint like Chase and was later inspired by her teachers Alan Bement and Arthur Wesley Dow to “fill space in a beautiful way.” Lake George was the source of much inspiration of Georgia O'Keeffe and soon-to-be-husband Alfred Stieglitz beginning in the summer of 1918. The milieu shows up in each artist's paintings and photographs in a variety of ways. This drawing was first exhibited in 1923 as part of O’Keeffe’s solo exhibition (organized by Stieglitz) at the Anderson Galleries, Park Avenue and Fifty-Ninth Street, New York City.  A backing inscription on this pastel drawing by Georgia O’Keeffe, written in Alfred Stieglitz’s hand, reads “Walk in Lake George/Pond in Centre. ” Reynolda House Founding President Barbara B. Millhouse has noted about Pool in the Woods : “By bringing the mountain and rimmed cavity into a single image, she has merged the faraway and the nearby.”

During Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern , we welcomed visitors from faraway and nearby. This month wraps up the most successful exhibition ever presented at Reynolda House Museum of American Art. We welcomed nearly 32,000 visitors (averaging close to 400 visitors a day) from all 50 states. A first for Reynolda! Made up of over 190 objects and spanning into 5 galleries, Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern was also the largest exhibition Reynolda House has ever hosted. Thank you for helping us make history,

Students from Chatham Hall (Georgia O'Keeffe's alma mater) pose in front of the title wall of Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern .

Learn more Reynolda history at the 88.5 WFDD Listening Party at reynolda thursday Thursday, November 30 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5 (includes N.C. sales tax). Join 88.5 WFDD for a Listening Party! We’ll listen to a collection of radio clips highlighting a century of enterprising women. The inspiring individuals include writers, innovators, and researchers in the STEM fields. In the process we’ll learn more about Katharine Smith Reynolds, and her influence on the legacy of Reynolda House.  Join Our Facebook Event