Alon Bement encouraged Georgia O'Keeffe to explore abstraction while she taught at the University of Virginia.
O'Keeffe worked as an art teacher in Texas before taking a summer course at the University of Virginia in 1912. There she encountered ideas associated with Alon Bement, an educator connected to Arthur Wesley Dow’s approach to art instruction. Bement’s teaching helped direct her attention toward design, line, and personal expression rather than simply copying visible objects.
Afterward, O'Keeffe studied with Dow at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dow’s principles became particularly important to her development, but Bement was the earlier influence who helped open that path.
The names are often blended because Bement and Dow were both linked to progressive art education. Bement was not the same person as William Merritt Chase, O'Keeffe’s earlier instructor at the Art Students League.