Frederick S. Wight
Arthur G. Dove.
University of California Press, 1958. First edition. 96 pages.
Large-format volume, measuring approximately 8.75" x 11.25", is bound in brown cloth, with stamped black lettering to spine. Book is like new, illustrated with numerous color and b&w reproductions. Price-clipped dust jacket displays very light shelfwear, with very minor loss at bottom edge of rear cover. Jacket is preserved in transparent plastic cover. 
""There was the search for a means of expression," wrote Dove, "that did not depend on representation. It should have order, size, intensity, spirit, nearer to the music of the eye.
If one could paint the part that goes to make the spirit of painting and leave out all that just makes tons and tons of art."
This biographical and critical study seeks to give Dove his full due as the first American abstract painter. Based on interviews with Dove's family and friends and on access to scrapbooks, papers, and letters, it presents a rounded and moving portrait.
Dove lived aloof from the art fashions of his time; he gave up a gregarious New York life once he saw clearly what he was to do. He was and still remains a painter's painter, cherished and supported by a few collectos in his lifetime. His accomplishments were immense; because he was aware of them, his satisfactions far outweighed his despairs. In this volume he lives again in print, in his own words, and in the perceptive and sympathetic analysis of the author."