Which art educator's theories most influenced Georgia O'Keeffe's move toward abstraction?

Arthur Wesley Dow's theories most influenced Georgia O'Keeffe's move toward abstraction.

O'Keeffe encountered Dow's ideas while studying at the University of Virginia in 1912, where Alon Bement introduced her to Dow's principles. Dow emphasized composition, line, color, and tonal harmony rather than faithful representation of an object. This approach offered O'Keeffe a way to make art from sensations and structures instead of simply copying what she saw.

The influence became especially important when O'Keeffe began producing charcoal abstractions in 1915. Those drawings helped establish her reputation among American modernists and were sent to Alfred Stieglitz, who exhibited them at his New York gallery. O'Keeffe later became associated with American modernism, although her paintings continued to draw on recognizable flowers, landscapes, bones, and buildings.

William Merritt Chase was also important because he taught O'Keeffe at the Art Students League, but Chase's role predates Dow's decisive influence on her abstract experiments.