From the Faraway Nearby: Georgia O'Keeffe as Icon

To create a ``composite biography'' of the legendary artist (1887-1986), Merrill, a poet, and Bradbury, director of Recursos de Santa Fe, here assemble pieces by 20 writers who examine O'Keeffe's life and work from many different points of view. The book, named for one of her paintings, is divided into two sections: the work and the woman. In the first category there are critiques of her art and career, such as Anna Chave's analysis of her early skyscraper paintings and MaLin Wilson's discussion of the way O'Keeffe's husband, Alfred Stieglitz, created a market for her work. The second section consists of memoirs, reflections and poems by people whose lives were in some way touched by O'Keeffe; this portion of the book comprises such disparate contributions as an account of the problems Laurie Lisle faced in writing her biography, Portrait of an Artist , and a passage from Alan Cheuse's novel The Light Possessed that was inspired by her life. Certain themes recur throughout--O'Keeffe's importance as a pioneer woman artist in America, the sexual content of her paintings and the power of the myth that grew up around her. But overall, the book is an odd potpourri in which serious consideration of her artistic merit is secondary to fascination with the mysteries surrounding her life and character. Photos not seen by PW. (June)