A captivating, spirited account of the intense relationship among four artists whose strong personalities, passionate feelings, and aesthetic ideals drew them together, pulled them apart, and profoundly influenced the very shape of twentieth-century art. "A captivating, spirited account of the intense relationships between four artists whose strong personalities, passionate feelings, and aesthetic ideals drew them together, pulled them apart, and profoundly influenced the very shape of twentieth-century art. New York, 1921: Alfred Stieglitz, the most influential figure in early twentieth-century photography, celebrates the success of his latest exhibition--the centerpiece, a series of nude portraits of the young Georgia O'Keeffe, soon to be his wife. It is a turning point for O'Keeffe, poised to make her entrance into the art scene--and for Rebecca Salsbury, the fiancée of Stieglitz's protégé Paul Strand. When Strand introduces Salsbury to Stieglitz and O'Keeffe, it is the start of a bond between the two couples that would last more than a decade and reverberate throughout their lives. In the years that followed, O'Keeffe and Stieglitz became the preeminent couple in American modern art, spurring each other's creativity. Observing their relationship led Salsbury to encourage new artistic possibilities for Strand and to rethink her own potential as an artist. In fact, it was Salsbury, the least known of the four, who was the main thread that wove the two couples' lives together. Carolyn Burke mines the recently available correspondence of the foursome to reveal how each of them inspired, provoked, and unsettled the others while pursuing seminal modes of artistic innovation. The result is an illuminating and revelatory portrait of four extraordinary lives."--Dust jacket.

"This is a Borzoi book published by Alfred A. Knopf."

Opening; New York, 1921 -- Lines and lives -- Born in Hoboken: 1864-1905 -- Portrait of 291: 1905-1913 -- The direct expression of today: 1914-1917 -- A woman on paper: 1915-1916 -- Passion under control: 1916-1918 -- Squaring the circle: 1918-1920 -- A fine companionship: 1920-1921 -- Twentieth-century seeing: 1922 -- Kinds of living: 1923 -- Sensitive plants: 1924 -- The treeness of a tree: 1925 -- Turning the page: 1926 -- The end of something: 1927-1928 -- How closely we 4 have grown together: 1929 -- New York in New Mexico: 1930-1931 -- Divided selves: 1931-1932 -- Don't look ahead or behind: 1933 -- Another way of living: 1934 -- Aftermath.