Skip to main content
book cover for Georgia and Anita

Georgia and Anita

The Lifelong Friendship of Georgia O'Keeffe and Anita Pollitzer

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Buy on Amazon Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.org
*This page contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app

1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date May 01 2025 | Archive Date Apr 30 2025

Talking about this book? Use #GeorgiaandAnita #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!


Description

Georgia O’Keeffe knew as soon as she met Anita Pollitzer that they had nothing in common. Anita looked like a china doll, small boned and delicate, and obviously well-to-do in her fashionable tunics and hobble skirts. She had the kind of mouth that settled naturally into a smile, which irritated O’Keeffe, who had no time for dewy-eyed girls. Yet this first impression was the beginning of a lifelong friendship that had a tremendous impact on both women and on twentieth-century America.

In Georgia and Anita Liza Bennett tells the little-known story of their enduring friendship and its ultimately tragic arc. It was Pollitzer who first showed O’Keeffe’s work to family friend and mentor Alfred Stieglitz, the world-famous photographer whose 291 Gallery in New York City was the epicenter of the modern art world. While O’Keeffe, Stieglitz, and their circle of friends were at the forefront of American modernism, Pollitzer became a leader of the National Woman’s Party and was instrumental in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote. Based on extensive research, including their fifty-year correspondence, Georgia and Anita casts light on the friendship of these two women who, in different ways, helped to modernize the world and women’s roles in it.

For more information about Georgia and Anita, visit georgiaandanita.com.

Georgia O’Keeffe knew as soon as she met Anita Pollitzer that they had nothing in common. Anita looked like a china doll, small boned and delicate, and obviously well-to-do in her fashionable tunics...


Advance Praise

“Liza Bennett’s luminous and absorbing exploration of the friendship between a painter of genius and a women’s rights activist during the morning years of the twentieth century rings absolutely true to its era while beautifully evoking the power and urgency of a new kind of American art being born.”—Richard Snow, author of Disney’s Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World

“A masterpiece, an exquisitely told story of love, art, feminism, family, and the making of the modern age, propelled by the deep and turbulent current of a decades-long friendship between two extraordinary women.”—Frederick E. Allen, former editor at American Heritage and New York magazines

“An important contribution to the literature on women’s friendship. While much has been written about Georgia O’Keeffe, woman artist, little is known of her lifelong bond with a central figure in the fight for the ballot, Anita Pollitzer. This is their riveting story.”—Ellen Feldman, author of Lucy and Terrible Virtue

“Beautifully written, by turns funny, inspiring, and poignant, this is the true story of two American women—one famous, one little known today—who changed the world. A narrative of friendship, devotion, and, ultimately, betrayal.”—Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland

“Liza Bennett’s luminous and absorbing exploration of the friendship between a painter of genius and a women’s rights activist during the morning years of the twentieth century rings absolutely true...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781496242792
PRICE $24.95 (USD)
PAGES 214

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Reader (PDF)
NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)
Send to Kindle (PDF)
Download (PDF)

Average rating from 3 members


Featured Reviews

Before reading this book, I only knew Georgia O’Keeffe for her flower paintings and her connection to New Mexico. I knew nothing about Anita Pollitzer. This book starts with Georgia at 28 years old around 1915. A brief background covers her identity, family's challenges, and meeting Anita Pollitzer, a young art student from a well-connected family. Anita and Georgia first meet while attending a semester at the Art Students League, we follow their decades long friendship. Their correspondence shows their journeys through two World Wars, Anita’s role in the suffragette movement, Georgia’s evolving art and long-term relationship with the older and (initially) married photographer and gallery owner, Alfred Stieglitz. Eventually, we get to the New Mexico-based, flower painting Georgia. Though the road there is not one I expected.

I was very intrigued by the subject matter for this book. I love reading stories about people’s lives and learning parts of history with which I previously was unfamiliar. While I got that in this book, I found the writing style choppy and at times difficult to follow. The perspective shifts between Georgia and Anita mid-chapter, with few visual cues indicating the change. There were parts that jumped geographically but did not explain how that change came to be. The author made assumptions about the readers familiarity with certain landmarks and locations. An example is the location of the Art Students League. In the first part of the book when Georgia and Anita are attending the semester there, I had to assume it was in New York City. Even after review, I do not see an explicit reference to what city or State this takes place in.

Although I would have appreciated more seamless transitions between Georgia and Anita's sections and additional details to assist the reader, I found the book enjoyable. I learned about Anita Pollitzer’s significant contributions to the rights women have in the United States and Georgia’s complicated romantic relationship. I was previously unaware of. I appreciated the author taking the time to respectfully show the complex nature of a long-term friendship.

Thank you to the University of Nebraska Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Was this review helpful?

Readers who liked this book also liked: