The New York gallery 291 exhibited Georgia O'Keeffe's early abstract drawings in 1916.
Alfred Stieglitz showed O'Keeffe’s charcoal abstractions at his gallery at 291 Fifth Avenue in New York in 1916. The gallery was formally called the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, but it became widely known simply by its street number, 291.
This exhibition was a major turning point because Stieglitz presented the drawings to an influential audience without O'Keeffe’s initial authorization. He had received the works through photographer and artist Anita Pollitzer, who recognized their originality. The display brought O'Keeffe into contact with the New York modern-art world and began her long personal and professional relationship with Stieglitz.
The 291 gallery is sometimes confused with the 1913 Armory Show, the landmark exhibition that introduced many European modernists to American audiences. The Armory Show was important background, but it was not the gallery that first exhibited O'Keeffe’s abstract drawings. That place was 291.