Georgia O’Keeffe made the abstract works Alfred Stieglitz exhibited in 1916 in charcoal.
O’Keeffe’s 1916 drawings were largely abstract charcoal works on paper. Alfred Stieglitz exhibited them at his 291 gallery after receiving them through the photographer and art promoter Anita Pollitzer. Their direct lines, organic shapes, and limited black-and-white range made a strong impression in a New York art scene still debating modernism.
These drawings were important because they represented a decisive break from the academic realism O’Keeffe had studied earlier. She was not simply drawing recognizable objects; she was exploring how feeling and structure could be communicated through line and form. Stieglitz’s exhibition helped bring this private experiment into public view.
The works are sometimes described generally as “abstract paintings,” but the medium matters. Charcoal was central to the breakthrough series, while O’Keeffe also worked extensively in watercolor and oil at other points. Her later flower, bone, architecture, and landscape paintings should not be treated as all belonging to the same medium.