Scholarly Commons

Assumptions of the Flower as a Sexual Symbol in the Work of Georgia O'Keeffe and Robert Mapplethorpe

Georgia O'Keeffe and Robert Mapplethorpe are two artists who do not fit the standards of who the traditional artist usually is. Due to this, much of their art is read differently by critics and the like, especially that featuring the flower as a subject. As a woman artist, O'Keeffe's flowers are read as symbolizing vaginas and general womanhood. As an openly gay artist whose art has focused on eroticism previously, Mapplethorpe's flowers are read as also representing this eroticism. This research focuses on these assumptions of the flower as a sexual symbol.