The gallery commonly called 291 first exhibited Georgia O'Keeffe's work in 1916. Its formal name was the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, but it became known by its address at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Alfred Stieglitz ran the gallery and presented O'Keeffe's drawings there after receiving them from her friend and fellow artist Anita Pollitzer. The 1916 exhibition introduced O'Keeffe to New York's emerging modernist network and began her long professional relationship with Stieglitz.
291 was important far beyond O'Keeffe. Stieglitz used it to show innovative photography and European modern art, including work associated with Rodin, Matisse, Picasso, and Cézanne. The gallery closed in 1917, but its influence continued through Stieglitz's later spaces, the Intimate Gallery and An American Place. The number 291 therefore identifies both a physical address and a crucial early platform for American modernism.