Jack-in-the-Pulpit

This is a painting by Georgia O'Keefe called "Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. IV" (1930). The painting is a close-up of a flower called Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum). At the lower middle of the picture is a bluish-black cylindrical shape called the spadix, or "Jack," which is the part of the flower that defines the sex of the plant; in this case it is a male plant. Surrounding the Jack are envelopes of white, black, green, and blue petals called the spathe, or "pulpit." This painting is a defamiliarization of the Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant; it is hard to identify such a distorted close-up of the subject without O'keefe's title. The plant takes up the whole space of the painting, giving no indication of formalism or story. The heavy use of black seen throughout the majority of the piece gives off a mysterious tone, however, it is not a mysterious tone that generates fear. The calming white light at the center and the soft curvy lines around the core actually pacify any fears of the unknown. It is almost as if the circular petals are halos, and the white colors seeping around the edges act as a reflection of light. This depiction instead generates a sense of wonder and reverie for the flower. Such a feeling would be hard to reproduce if O'Keefe did not paint the plant close-up, which possibly served as way for O'Keefe to capture the beauty of the flower.