What was the title of Georgia O'Keeffe's first abstract charcoal drawing series from 1915?

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Georgia O'Keeffe's 1915 abstract charcoal drawing series was titled Specials.

The series emerged after O'Keeffe rejected the academic style she had been taught and began experimenting with simplified lines, shapes, and tonal contrasts. The works were among her earliest fully abstract drawings and marked a decisive change in her artistic direction.

O'Keeffe sent some of these drawings to a friend, Anita Pollitzer, who showed them to Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz exhibited them at his New York gallery in 1916, making O'Keeffe one of the first American artists known for entirely abstract work.

The title is sometimes overlooked because the drawings are also discussed broadly as O'Keeffe's 1915 abstractions. “Specials,” however, identifies the specific series rather than describing all of her early abstract experiments.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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