Georgia O'Keeffe became the first woman artist given a solo retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1970. The exhibition marked her recognition as a major figure in American modernism.
A retrospective surveys an artist's career rather than focusing on a single recent project. The Whitney exhibition therefore placed O'Keeffe's flower paintings, abstractions, urban views, and New Mexico subjects within a broad historical narrative.
The milestone is sometimes confused with the museum's founding date or with later exhibitions devoted to women artists. The Whitney Museum opened in 1931, while O'Keeffe's retrospective took place decades later. Her exhibition also followed earlier museum presentations of her work elsewhere.
O'Keeffe's prominence continued to grow after 1970. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the National Medal of Arts in 1985. Her Whitney retrospective remains an important institutional marker for women artists in American museum history.