Georgia O’Keeffe used charcoal for the abstract drawings that first attracted Alfred Stieglitz’s attention in 1915.
The drawings were part of a breakthrough series in which O’Keeffe reduced forms to expressive lines, curves, and shapes. They were made during a period when she was exploring abstraction rather than directly depicting recognizable landscapes or objects.
O’Keeffe sent the drawings to her friend Anita Pollitzer, who showed them to Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz exhibited some of them at his New York gallery, 291, in 1916. This was an important early public presentation of her work.
The charcoal drawings are sometimes described as paintings because they are part of her larger artistic career, but charcoal is the specific medium associated with this breakthrough group. O’Keeffe later worked extensively in oil, watercolor, pastel, and other media.