Sister Power!

Another gem from the daily calendar:

Georgia O’Keeffe had resolved to become an artist, and a famous and successful one at that.  She knew the road ahead would be hard, given the 1910 general opinion of women artists.  Undeterred, O’Keeffe enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago (where she ran in embarrassment from her first class with a nude male model) and then the Arts Students League in New York City.  Despite winning prizes and scholarships, she endured the contempt of her male colleagues, one of whom said to her, “It doesn’t matter what you do [in art school].  I’m going to become a great painter and you’re just going to end up teaching art in some girl’s school.”  That student was Eugene Speicher.  Ever heard of him?  Didn’t think so.

So of course, I had to do a little research. 

This is Eugene Speicher.  Apparently Wikipedia has heard of him.

 He looks like an arrogant ass, doesn’t he?  I don’t know why I feel the need to champion Ms. O’Keeffe, unless it’s my modern woman’s sense of outrage at his derisively misogynistic statement. 

I’ve always liked O’Keeffe’s work – even the blush inducingly salacious ones such as this example.

O'Keeffe - Red Canna

Speicher’s work is VASTLY different from O’Keeffe but I tried to find some flowers that we could compare.  Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

 Speicher’s is lovely, but certainly less legend-in-the-making worthy.