Georgia O’Keeffe held her first solo exhibition in 1917.
The exhibition was presented at Alfred Stieglitz’s New York gallery, 291, and featured works including abstract drawings and paintings. It followed Stieglitz’s discovery of her charcoal drawings and his decision to show them in 1916.
The timing was important because O’Keeffe’s work differed from the academic and illustrative art commonly associated with women artists in the United States. Her simplified forms, strong lines, and intense handling of color connected her to emerging American modernism. The 1917 exhibition helped establish her reputation before her later flower paintings became widely known.
The show should not be confused with later retrospectives or museum exhibitions. O’Keeffe continued exhibiting in New York and elsewhere for decades, but 1917 marks the beginning of her solo-exhibition history. It also came before her move to New York to live with Stieglitz in 1918.