Immediately, the first thing i notice is that as a viewer, O'keefe makes us view the imposing skyscraper from the ground level. This instantly made me feel overpowered and intimidated by the structure and yet, also made me feel in awe of its massive presence. Interestingly enough, O'Keefe seems to try and equate this skyscraper with the divine. She does this by surrounding the building with a heavy yellow light, implying to connection to some divine and primordial force. O'keefe creates a conflicting portrait of modern life and the urban environment. On one hand, you are in complete wonder of this structure and believe it to be a symbol of mans greatness. However, O'Keefe's masterful use of color seems to suggest that this man made structure is quite possibly touching the divine. Yet, this idea, to me at least, is O'Keefe suggesting a misguided society, one that equates their accomplishments to divinity and their buildings to godly.
When I saw this painting by O'Keeffe, the first thing that came to my mind was Tom's mesa and his description of it in the second part of "The Professor's House." The sun shining around the tall building is almost exactly how Tom describes the sun shining around the tall mesa, and how it would block the light from hitting below for some time. In fact, Tom says "the mesa top would be red with sunrise, and all the slim cedars along the rocks would be gold - metallic, like tarnished gold-foil." (I would cite, but my pages are different.) This sentence could almost describe this painting exactly. The tall building shining orange and gold with the sun, and all the orange and gold reflections throughout the painting. The mesa is even depicted as "metallic" in this sentence, making it even easier for the reader to imagine a tall building, such as in O'Keeffe's painting. Tom states that their camp would be in the "shadow" of the mesa, just like the people in a city with tall buildings are in the shadows of the buildings. I think this painting can be directly linked to Tom's description of the mesa, not just visually, but also the way the mesa made Tom feel and how being next to an impressive tall building can make one feel; in awe, and almost insignificant.
Immediately, the first thing i notice is that as a viewer, O'keefe makes us view the imposing skyscraper from the ground level. This instantly made me feel overpowered and intimidated by the structure and yet, also made me feel in awe of its massive presence. Interestingly enough, O'Keefe seems to try and equate this skyscraper with the divine. She does this by surrounding the building with a heavy yellow light, implying to connection to some divine and primordial force. O'keefe creates a conflicting portrait of modern life and the urban environment. On one hand, you are in complete wonder of this structure and believe it to be a symbol of mans greatness. However, O'Keefe's masterful use of color seems to suggest that this man made structure is quite possibly touching the divine. Yet, this idea, to me at least, is O'Keefe suggesting a misguided society, one that equates their accomplishments to divinity and their buildings to godly.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw this painting by O'Keeffe, the first thing that came to my mind was Tom's mesa and his description of it in the second part of "The Professor's House." The sun shining around the tall building is almost exactly how Tom describes the sun shining around the tall mesa, and how it would block the light from hitting below for some time. In fact, Tom says "the mesa top would be red with sunrise, and all the slim cedars along the rocks would be gold - metallic, like tarnished gold-foil." (I would cite, but my pages are different.) This sentence could almost describe this painting exactly. The tall building shining orange and gold with the sun, and all the orange and gold reflections throughout the painting. The mesa is even depicted as "metallic" in this sentence, making it even easier for the reader to imagine a tall building, such as in O'Keeffe's painting. Tom states that their camp would be in the "shadow" of the mesa, just like the people in a city with tall buildings are in the shadows of the buildings. I think this painting can be directly linked to Tom's description of the mesa, not just visually, but also the way the mesa made Tom feel and how being next to an impressive tall building can make one feel; in awe, and almost insignificant.
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