No less arresting is Georgia O'Keeffe's Black Iris VI, top left, a rhapsodically painted blossom with delicately suggestive petals. O'Keeffe's flowers used to look not quite so overtly anatomical in the pre-internet age, but now even a Google search for hot water heater parts can turn up views of fastidiously plucked female private parts amid the hardware. O'Keefe's paintings are as gorgeous as ever, but Google's anatomical indiscretions make them seem more graphic than she intended. Even a panoramic Grand Canyon painting by David Hockney, above, can be disorienting, perhaps because his color palette looks derived from Life Saver candies, so it seems more cute than awesome – a quality that may cause some to involuntarily flash on Walt Disney while viewing an adjacent Grand Canyon at Sunset canvas by 19th century American master Thomas Cole, above left. Like a party where the guest list looked stellar on paper but seemed slightly awkward in person, this can be a very rewarding viewing experience if you are prepared to encounter a few disorienting little surprises. ~Bookhardt / Seeing Nature: Landscape Masterworks from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection, Through Jan. 15, New Orleans Museum of Art, City Park, 658-4100.
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