I’m so glad I made the effort to get to the class taught by Linda Loveland Reid on artistic couples, even though it was less than 24 hrs from my return. Jet-lagged and with guts grumbling from careless snacking in Morocco, I loved the class. This was my favorite quote:

“I’m Frightened All The Time, But I Never Let It Stop Me.”

By learning the stories of the two artists together, I finally have some context for Georgia’s disturbingly sexual images. I learned that Georgia couldn’t tolerate live-model class in art school (with undraped models) and yet she not only allowed Stieglitz, a married man, to take hundreds of nude photos of her and she allowed him to exhibit a selection in New York City, laying the groundwork of her name being connected with sexual exhibitionism and promiscuity. Did Stieglitz make money from this show?

Mabel Dodge Luhan and O’Keeffe

The teacher also touched on their contemporary artist, Arthur Dove. But who became famous: O’Keeffe or Dove? The recipe continues to be that sexual favors pay for the marketing expertise that few artists can manage. [Exceptions: Koons, Rauschenberg] I look forward to the day we can tell the truth about what works, about how humans really are…

My favorite photo that the instructor showed showed was of Georgia, in the desert, with her arm around the woman who taught her to drive — a woman who maybe was for her, what Georgia was for Stieglitz — someone who could see her and could help her get what she needed.