Modern Flowers (after Heade?) 

Georgia O'Keeffe created this oil painting, "Modern Flowers (after Heade?)," sometime in the 20th century. It depicts white flowers and green leaves against a dark background. O'Keeffe was part of a generation of American modernists who came of age in the early 20th century. Often, these artists wanted to create a distinctly "American" art, separate from European traditions. Yet O'Keeffe's title gestures to the artistic tradition, naming Martin Johnson Heade, a 19th-century painter known for his depictions of flowers. What does it mean to create modern flowers "after" Heade? We might consider the ways that cultural institutions have historically privileged certain artists while marginalizing others. Historians of American art study these institutional structures to better understand the social conditions that shape artistic production. We can look to archives, exhibition histories, and critical writings to understand the power dynamics at play in the creation and reception of art.