How Georgia Became O'Keeffe

Most people associate Georgia OKeeffe with New Mexico, painted cow skulls, and her flower paintings. She was revered for so longborn in 1887, died at age ninety-eight in 1986that we forget how young, restless, passionate, searching, striking, even fearful she once wasa dazzling, mysterious female force in bohemian New York City during its heyday. In this distinctive book, Karen Karbo cracks open the OKeeffe icon in her characteristic style, making one of the greatest women painters in American history vital and relevant for yet another generation. She chronicles OKeeffes early life, her desire to be an artist, and the key moment when art became her form of self-expression. She also explores OKeeffes passionate love affair with master photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who took a series of 500 black-and-white photographs of OKeeffe during the early years of their marriage.This is not a traditional biography, but rather a compelling, contemporary reassessment of the life of OKeeffe with an eye toward understandingwhat we can learn from her way of being in the world.