Which artist and educator became a major influence on Georgia O'Keeffe at Columbia University?

Arthur Wesley Dow became a major influence on Georgia O'Keeffe at Columbia University.

O'Keeffe encountered Dow's teaching while studying at Columbia University Teachers College in New York. Dow encouraged students to think about art through elements such as line, color, and composition rather than merely reproducing what they saw. His approach helped O'Keeffe develop a more personal and abstract visual language.

This influence is especially important because O'Keeffe had already received conventional academic training. Dow offered a different framework, one that treated design and expressive structure as central artistic concerns. O'Keeffe later used those ideas in charcoal abstractions and paintings that emphasized simplified shapes and carefully organized color.

Dow was not O'Keeffe's husband, gallery dealer, or first New York exhibitor. Alfred Stieglitz filled those later roles in her public and personal life. Dow's importance was primarily pedagogical: his ideas helped redirect O'Keeffe's development during a formative period.