Painted Lady
12-oz Anchor Steam at Alamo Square, San Francisco, California
O'Dowd displays a wry irony with this work, a commentary on the smug self-satisfaction and regimented conformity of middle-class America. At this stage -- the mid-1970s -- O'Dowd's work had departed from his earlier style, and he began to alienate many of his long-time followers.

In this piece, O'Dowd breaks with personal convention by setting his subject in an urban environment. The photographer also abandoned his previous practice of adding artifactual components -- such as blurred beer labels and crooked horizon lines -- to his images. As a result, "Painted Lady" nearly overwhelms with clarity and verisimilitude.

Many O'Dowd historians attribute the new style to an uncharacteristic bout of sobriety that the artist suffered between 1973 and 1976. While O'Dowd was incredibly prolific during this time, his work lacked the innovative focus -- or lack of same -- that characterized his revolutionary early photos.