Alon Bement was Georgia O'Keeffe's teacher at the University of Virginia and an early influence on her abstract art.
O'Keeffe studied with Alon Bement during summer sessions at the University of Virginia in 1912 and 1914. Bement taught art education and promoted ideas connected with the theories of Arthur Wesley Dow, whose approach emphasized line, color, and composition rather than merely copying visible objects.
These ideas helped O'Keeffe reconsider what an artwork could do. Instead of treating painting as a straightforward imitation of nature, she began exploring simplified forms and expressive arrangements. Her early abstractions from 1915 are often described as among the first purely abstract works created by an American artist.
Arthur Wesley Dow was also important, but he was not the teacher the question identifies. O'Keeffe later studied directly with Dow at Columbia University Teachers College in New York, beginning in 1914. Separating Bement from Dow helps clarify the sequence of her artistic education.