Alfred Stieglitz created the 1921 portrait series that helped make Georgia O'Keeffe widely known.
Stieglitz began photographing O'Keeffe in 1917 and exhibited some of the portraits in 1921. The images presented her as an important modern figure and attracted considerable public attention. He eventually made more than 300 photographs of her, including portraits and studies of her hands and body.
The photographs appeared through Stieglitz’s influential gallery, 291, and later galleries he operated. His advocacy helped bring O'Keeffe's drawings and paintings to New York audiences, although it also meant that her public identity was closely linked to his.
Stieglitz was both photographer and gallery director, while Paul Strand and Edward Steichen were separate figures in American photography. O'Keeffe later insisted on her own artistic independence despite the importance of Stieglitz’s early promotion.