Georgia O’Keeffe created her pioneering abstract charcoal drawings in 1915.
These works marked a decisive break from the academic realism she had been taught. Using sweeping lines and tonal contrasts, O’Keeffe explored visual relationships without relying on recognizable landscapes, objects, or figures. She later sent a group of the drawings to her friend Anita Pollitzer.
Pollitzer showed them to Alfred Stieglitz, the photographer and New York art dealer. Stieglitz exhibited the drawings at his gallery 291 in 1916, making O’Keeffe one of the first American women artists he promoted. The year 1915 is distinct from 1916, when the works were first shown publicly, and from 1917, when O’Keeffe had her first solo exhibition at 291.