Those Early Years

This is Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Conner's illustrated memoir, a captivating visual diary of her privileged yet somber childhood and the love and loneliness of her married life. Whitney Conner, the granddaughter of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art, is a landscape painter who studied with Hans Hofmann, and her paintings are influenced by Edward Hopper and Fairfield Porter. Light, which defines and simplifies forms and intensifies their isolation, is an essential factor in her works -- imbuing them with an eerie sense of stillness and expectation. This is a unique and thoughtful book whose illustrations and commentary possess both engaging simplicity and personal charm.