At which art school did Georgia O’Keeffe study in New York before her breakthrough?

Georgia O’Keeffe studied at the Art Students League of New York before her breakthrough as a modernist artist. She attended the school in 1907 and won a scholarship that allowed her to study with William Merritt Chase.

The Art Students League offered a less rigid environment than many traditional art academies. O’Keeffe learned academic drawing and painting there, and her work won a still-life prize during her studies. Although she later moved away from conventional realism, this training gave her a strong command of composition and form.

Afterward, O’Keeffe worked as a commercial artist and art teacher before developing the abstract charcoal drawings that attracted Stieglitz’s attention. The school is often shortened to “the Art Students League,” but the full institutional name is the Art Students League of New York. It remains an independent art school rather than a degree-granting university, another reason it can be confused with larger New York art institutions.