Foursome

Foursome: Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Paul Strand, Rebecca Salsbury by Carolyn Burke  419 pp.

This historical account of four artists at the forefront of art in the early 20th century focuses in large part on photographer Alfred Stieglitz and the influence he had on getting photography recognized as an art form. Stieglitz's various art galleries featured all types of art including that of Georgia O'Keeffe, his sometime model, painter, and later wife. Photographer Paul Strand was a protégé of Stieglitz who later transitioned to motion pictures. Rebecca "Beck" Salsbury, who married Strand, was a painter of mediocre success which improved after switching to reverse painting on glass. The Stieglitz-O'Keeffe marriage was unusual in that they generally spent many months apart while working on their respective arts. The large difference in their ages and Stieglitz's philandering also affected the marriage. Strand and Salsbury later divorced but remained friends. These four personalities merged and clashed throughout the  decades between the 1910s and Stieglitz death in 1946. Strand, O'Keeffe, and Salsbury remained friends and shared gallery shows until her death in 1968. Strand died in 1976 and O'Keeffe outlived them all until 1986 in spite of multiple health problems. This book was informative but rather dry.