Artists need inspiration from multiple sources to remain devoted to their work. One motivation can come from reading the stories of other artists' lives. Becoming aware of another artist's triumphs and tribulations can give one the strength to continue to create, especially when one is a female artist.
These biographies are colourful and elaborate portrayals of three women who faced trials from depression to illness and yet who managed to fashion lasting works of art.
Diane Arbus: A Biography
Patricia Bosworth's 1984 bio of photographer Diane Arbus (1923-1971) provides a thorough examination of this daring visionary's life. Beginning with her wealthy origin as the daughter of a fur merchant, Bosworth follows Arbus as she marries her photography partner, mothers daughters and leaves her relationship after years of collaboration to enter the seamy world of her art. Part Three: The Dark World is the most engaging section.
It traces how Diane obtained the courage to encounter nudists, freak shows and orgies in order to take her memorable, disturbing pictures. The biography is enhanced with 16 pages of black and white photographs of Diane over the years until her suicide. Most inspirational is Arbus's philosophy that one can only truly learn when one is deeply touched by something.
Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo
Hayden Herrera has written a compelling tale about the life of the surrealist Mexican painter (1907-1954). Published in 1983, the biography chronicles Frida's childhood, her bus accident at the age of 18 that left her injured for the remainder of her life, and her tumultuous marriage to the Communist fresco-painter, Diego Rivera. The bio spares no details in recounting infidelities, travels and the suffering endured by Kahlo through numerous operations.
Most importantly though, it offers insight into the context of Kahlo's art. Herrera discusses the surgical metaphors, the nationalistic images and the feminist undercurrent in the painter's work. Not only are family photos featured, but the book also contains pages of her art, reproduced in colour. Frida inspires by her determination to paint, and thus be faithful to, her own reality.
Georgia O'Keefe
This biography by Roxana Robinson was also published in the eighties (1989). A compact text, organized in six parts, and offering black and white matte photos of O'Keefe's family and friends, it engages at depth with the fascinating and long life of the painter from Wisconsin, New York and eventually, New Mexico (1887-1986). Beginning with her youth on a farm, the bio elaborates on her decision to attend the Art Institute of Chicago at 17, a daring move in those sexist years, and her alliance with the much-older photographer Alfred Stieglitz through the 291 Gallery.
Like Arbus and Kahlo, O'Keefe had physical impediments to her art to conquer. She endured recuring ailments and exhaustion, but kept trying to capture the beauties of the land, and especially flowers, the sky and bones. In 1946, after Stieglitz's death, O'Keefe went to live in the desert, alone apart from various helpmates, continuing to exhibit her now-famous work at regular intervals. Georgia believed that one must continue to work, despite all, an important reminder for every kind of artist.
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