Becoming O'Keeffe: The Early Years
by: Sarah Whitaker Peters

Hardcover. NY, Abbeville Press, 1st, 1991, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 397 pages, illustrated in b&w and color. In this thoughtful and thought-provoking art historical study, Peters first traces strands of Art Nouveau and Symbolist theory in the art of Georgia O'Keeffe. She then discusses other influences, from Arthur Dow as teacher to Paul Strand as photographer and friend. But by far the most sustained study in the text is the relationship between O'Keeffe's painting and the photography and philosophy of her husband, Alfred Stieglitz. Peters argues lucidly and always in accessible language for O'Keeffe's emergence as a great and deeply individual artist while illuminating these many influences and illustrating her points with lavish use of excellent reproductions. Clean copy.