Georgia O’Keeffe used charcoal for the 1915 series that made her an early American abstract artist. These drawings reduced natural forms to lines, curves, and rhythmic shapes without relying on recognizable objects.
The series was created while O’Keeffe was teaching in South Carolina. She sent some of the drawings to Anita Pollitzer, who showed them to Alfred Stieglitz in New York. Stieglitz was impressed by their originality and exhibited them at his gallery in 1916.
The charcoal works were a decisive break from the conventional academic style O’Keeffe had learned in art school. She later returned to recognizable subjects, including flowers, buildings, and landscapes, but abstraction remained an important part of her practice. These drawings are sometimes confused with her later pastel or watercolor experiments; the landmark 1915 series specifically used charcoal.