Georgia O’Keeffe used charcoal for her breakthrough abstract drawings of 1915.
In 1915, O’Keeffe created a group of abstract charcoal drawings while teaching in South Carolina. The works used simplified lines, curves, and forms rather than recognizable objects. They represented a decisive break from the academic approach she had learned in art school and demonstrated that black-and-white drawing could carry strong emotional and formal power.
O’Keeffe mailed some of these drawings to Alfred Stieglitz, the New York photographer and gallery owner. He exhibited them in 1916 at his gallery, commonly known as 291, making her one of the first American artists he promoted in this way. Later, O’Keeffe became famous for oil paintings of flowers and landscapes, so her early charcoal drawings can be surprising to viewers who know only her colorful mature work.