Georgia O'Keeffe used charcoal for the abstract drawings shown at her 1917 solo exhibition.
The drawings were part of a group of nearly entirely abstract works that she made while teaching in Texas and Virginia. She mailed them to Alfred Stieglitz, who exhibited them at his New York gallery, 291, in 1917. The show was O'Keeffe’s first solo exhibition.
These charcoal drawings were important because they presented a personal, nonrepresentational visual language at a time when American audiences were still becoming familiar with European and American modernism. Their sweeping lines and tonal contrasts suggested movement and emotion without depicting recognizable objects.
O'Keeffe later worked in oil, watercolor, pastel, and other media, so charcoal is specifically tied to this breakthrough exhibition. The works should not be confused with her later flower paintings, which are most often associated with oil on canvas.