Georgia O'Keefe (2009)

Familiar character actor, Bob Balaban, directed this HBO biopic about the relationship between twentieth century artist, Georgia O'Keefe, and photographer and New York art dealer, Alfred Stieglitz. Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons are entirely convincing as the pair who marked the era of modern American art.

O'Keefe was a quiet artist/teacher living in Texas when she sent Stieglitz a few of her spare nature drawings during the early 192os. Recognizing her remarkable talent, he immediately hung them without her permission, thrilled to have found the first modern woman artist to show alongside Picasso, Matisse and Cezanne at his 291 Gallery in New York.

Their first meeting at the gallery began when she demanded he remove the art from the wall. Soon his charm began to engage her in a life-changing relationship that would shape her professional success. She disapproves of his attempt to attach words and description to her work.

"A painter using words is like a baby trying to talk--it's better to let the picture speak on its own rather to put a word to it."

They seem to have ongoing vital dialogues full of quotable lines. A complicated romance bloomed even though Stieglitz was married with a family. They found their way into a modern emotional situation that brought joy and pain as he divorced and eventually married Georgia. Although she was a model independent woman, she still felt the desire to procreate. This infuriated Alfred.

"You are here to paint, NOT to breed."

"Emma Goldman can preach feminism till she's blue in the face but YOU embody it! Work doesn't become art until some rich person comes along and buys it."

His famous nude photographs of Georgia reconnected him with his own artistic talents, but also contained a specific business motive...to make Georgia the first celebrity woman artist.

Problems arise in their relationship. She is befriended by the infamous Mabel Dodge Luhan (Tyne Daly), who invites her to her place in the arts community in the southwest. Georgia finds her spiritual home in Taos and spends the final years of her life working in the spaciousness and hills of the desert. Scenes of the film were shot at the historical Georgia O'Keefe House and Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos.

She comments about the state of their relationship..."He lost interest in me because I grew out of his shadow." Though she learned to drive and journeyed back and forth between Taos and New York for a period of time, eventually she stopped.

"I am moving more and more to a kind of aloneness. I must be apart now."

She maintained a love for Stieglitz and tells him "I never assumed you were anything but a great shining star I was hitching a ride on." After he passed away, she took on the task of restoring his legacy for the future. This is a beautiful portrayal of the life of a unique artist and her influences.