Georgia O'Keeffe's first widely exhibited series of abstract charcoal drawings was called Specials.
O'Keeffe made the drawings in 1915 while teaching in South Carolina. They reduced natural forms and ideas to lines, curves, and tonal relationships, marking a decisive break from the conventional academic art she had previously produced. The series is among the earliest purely abstract works created by an American artist.
A friend, Anita Pollitzer, showed some of the drawings to Alfred Stieglitz in 1916. Stieglitz exhibited them at his gallery, the 291, in New York. O'Keeffe initially did not authorize the display, but the exhibition introduced her work to a significant modern-art audience.
The series is sometimes described broadly as O'Keeffe's early abstractions, but Specials is the specific name associated with these 1915 charcoal drawings. Her later paintings continued to balance abstraction with recognizable natural and architectural subjects.