Georgia O'Keeffe began her groundbreaking abstract charcoal drawings in 1915.
While teaching art in South Carolina, O'Keeffe created a series of simplified charcoal drawings that reduced natural forms to lines, curves, and tonal contrasts. The works represented a decisive break from the academic realism she had been taught and are among the earliest wholly abstract artworks produced by an American artist.
She mailed the drawings to her friend Anita Pollitzer, who showed them to Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz exhibited some of them at his 291 gallery in 1916, helping bring O'Keeffe to the attention of the New York art world.
The year 1915 is sometimes confused with 1916, when the drawings were first exhibited. The creation of the series began in 1915; its public presentation followed the next year.