Georgia O'Keeffe's 1915 series titled Specials helped make her one of the first American artists to practice pure abstraction.
The series consisted of abstract charcoal drawings created while O'Keeffe was teaching in South Carolina. Instead of depicting recognizable objects, the drawings used lines, shapes, and tonal contrasts to communicate visual and emotional ideas. She sent some of them to Anita Pollitzer, who showed them to Alfred Stieglitz.
Stieglitz exhibited several of the drawings at his 291 gallery in New York in 1916. Their presentation was a major turning point because O'Keeffe had not yet become known for her large flower paintings or New Mexico landscapes.
The title is often discussed alongside her later abstractions, but Specials is specifically associated with the 1915 charcoal works. O'Keeffe eventually returned to recognizable subjects, yet she continued to simplify forms and treat them in ways that retained abstraction's influence.