Georgia O'Keeffe in Poetry

The book examines the renderings into poetry of the life and works of Georgia O'Keeffe. It intends to show how these poems have interpreted, de-codified and translated O'Keeffe's subjects into words by making room for new meaningful images, expanding what O'Keeffe meant to do with her art and nourishing her artistic legacy.

This book examines poetic interpretations of the life and works of the American Modernist painter Georgia O'Keeffe. It shows how these poems have interpreted, de-codified and translated O'Keeffe's subjects, expanding her art and nourishing her legacy. By borrowing the term radicant from art scholar Nicolas Bourriaud, it seeks to capture the essence of O'Keeffe as an artist who approached art in heterogeneous contexts and formats, transplanting and sharing new creative behaviours. After an introduction to the development of ekphrastic writing, and a summary of the principal aesthetic and critical theories that deal with the intriguing intersections between visual and verbal media, the book provokes reflection on the reasons why O'Keeffe often showed reticence towards the world of words. Subsequent chapters analyse the extent to which poetry prompted by O'Keeffe's paintings provides not only accurate and eulogistic descriptions of her art but also an encounter between media that expand the interpretation of her art. The book confirms that in visual art as well as in poetry, the shared process of selecting and emphasizing helps artists get at the essence of things and, thus, disentangle the complicated facets of existence.

Autorentext

Cristiana Pagliarusco holds a PhD from the University of Trento, Italy. She currently teaches English and the humanities in Vicenza. Her research focuses on the intersections between visual and verbal media, highlighting the importance of affiliative and affective relationships among artists and intellectuals in contemporary and global contexts. She has presented her research at international conferences in Europe and Italy and has published widely in literary journals and edited collections. She is currently editing an anthology of poetry inspired by Georgia O Keeffe and a collection of women s poems on the same artist.

Inhalt

CONTENTS: Painting Poems on O'Keeffe's Places - Painting Poems on O'Keeffe's Living and Still Lives - Painting Poems on O'Keeffe's Human Artifacts - Theorizing Photographs on the Artist - O'Keeffe's Lyrical Offspring.