"Texas is my spiritual home." Georgia O'Keeffe's comment inspired this first major study of her early years in Texas. Illustrated with 50 colorplates and copious supporting images including photographs of the artist, and with a detailed chronology, this book is an important contribution to the growing body of knowledge on this pioneering American modernist.

Sharyn R. Udall, a noted O'Keeffe scholar, shows how the powerful light and the stark landscape of Texas resonated throughout the artist's work. Her illuminating essay demonstrates the connection between O'Keeffe and the spirit of place, between her essential self and the vast plains of West Texas. Text and pictures combine to flesh out the story of a major formative period in the career of this quintessential American artist.

Beginning with the Texas years, 1912 to 1918, Udall divides the work into thematic sections that reflect the five primary formal themes O'Keeffe developed during that period: landforms, solids and voids, light, geometric patterns, and line as formal element. She then proceeds to show the continuity of O'Keeffe's vision over the next half century.

These works are surprisingly different from the flowers and animal bones traditionally associated with O'Keeffe's work, offering many powerful and unexpected images.