Zulma Steele (1881–1979) was one of the pioneering women of the Arts and Crafts Movement and Modernism in New York. American arts journalist for the New York Times Grace Glueck noted that Steele was a “progressive-minded artist and artisan whose work was considered avant-garde.” In 1903 she was one of the first residents of Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead’s fledgling arts and crafts colony. Her designs of nature studies for what became iconic patterned-painted panels were set into larger Mission-style furniture pieces. She was also a painter, printer and ceramist. A retrospective exhibition, Zulma Steele: Artist/Craftswoman was held at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild's Kleinert/James Center for the Arts in 2020. This catalog features a foreword by Henry T. Ford, with essays by Tom Wolf, Derin Tanyol and Bruce Weber.
