Artists evolve as they learn the rules of their trade. But they also mature when they learn more about themselves and become more sincere in their works. Georgia O’Keeffe and Maya Angelou both show this type of growth.
As a young woman, Georgia O’Keeffe painted a variety of different subjects, most of which had to do with nature. She tended to fill large areas of space with solid colours, separating them with lines of blank canvas. The colours as a whole created an abstract picture of a natural subject, such as a tent, an evening star, or a canyon. Abstract painting was a popular trend of the time, one that she probably learned from her schooling.
As she grew older, she narrowed her interests and created her own unique style. One of her interests was collecting the skulls of animals, so she painted these skulls. The skulls aren’t beautiful items, at least not in my opinion. But they’re what remains of an animal once it has passed on. The animal may have been bold. It may have been sacrificed to a god or to allow another animal to survive. Whatever the animals’ life was like, or its death, it is gone now, and the skull what remains. O’Keeffe paints this reality. Perhaps, as she matured, she saw the reality of death, and that may be why she was so fascinated by animal skulls.
Another interest of O’Keeffe’s that emerged during her midlife was flowers. This is the subject for which she is most well known. When most people think of Georgia O’Keeffe, they think of her flowers. When many artists look at Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers, they see it as a representation of a female’s genitals. Perhaps in early life, O’Keeffe wasn’t bold enough to create these paintings. But then, in mid life, she painted huge pictures of flowers, so that all the world could see women, so that men would notice women and so that women would not be ashamed of who they are and what they have. Judy Chicago did a piece called The Dinner Party, which was a triangle-shaped table set for a fictitious dinner party for feminists. Each feminist’s plate was designed especially for her, unique from all the others. Chicago set a place for O’Keeffe. The plate was a purple ceramic flower.
O’Keeffe’s early works were like the paintings that one would expect to find at a doctor’s office, rather ordinary and lacking in human expression. They’re just there, and they don’t really strike the viewer. But, as she matured, O’Keeffe created paintings that had to do with her interests, ones that people can identify as hers, without having to search for the artist’s signiture.
In Maya Angelou’s early works, at least from what I can gather, she stuck to the “tried and true” method. For the most part, she wrote using an A-B-C-B rhyming scheme, each line thumping along with a certain rhythm. She wrote textbook poems, ones that would be used as examples for English class. The verses are well written, not contrived as typically occurs with this format. But, at some point in her early poetry, it does seem that she worked to squeeze her meaning into the poem’s framework. Behind this format though, there’s more than mere rhythm and rhyme. She writes with a passion and almost bitterness. She seems to be saying, “look what I can do, though you don’t think me capable”.
In Angelou’s later works, however, you do not tend to see this same attitude. It’s not that the passion is gone, but she doesn’t seem so melodramatic. She sounds more honest in her later works, like she’s not concerning herself with pleasing an audience and fitting a certain poetic formula. There’s a stage in an artist’s life when she tires of society’s rhetoric, of how everything is supposed to be done. That’s when she steps out on her own and just releases what’s inside of her without fear. In Brave and Startling Truth, Angelou seems to be incorporating rhyme and rhythm into her poetry once more. But it’s on her terms. She’s using it to her advantage, not conforming to format.
Both Georgia O’Keeffe and Maya Angelou began using the format of the times to express themselves. Because of this, they were stifled early on. Both women, however, progressed as they reached middle age. They stepped away from the standard practice of their day and created pieces from their hearts.
