Which teacher's design ideas strongly influenced Georgia O'Keeffe's move toward abstraction?

Arthur Wesley Dow strongly influenced Georgia O'Keeffe's move toward abstraction. O'Keeffe encountered Dow's ideas through Alon Bement, who taught at the University of Virginia and had studied with Dow.

Dow emphasized the principles of composition, including line, color, and tonal relationships. His approach differed from academic instruction based mainly on copying nature or producing realistic representations. For O'Keeffe, it provided a way to make art from visual elements without relying on literal description.

After becoming dissatisfied with conventional art training, O'Keeffe experimented with abstract charcoal drawings in 1915. She sent some of these works to Alfred Stieglitz, who exhibited them at his gallery in New York. Their presentation helped launch O'Keeffe's professional reputation.

Dow was not O'Keeffe's main classroom teacher at the Art Students League. That distinction matters because William Merritt Chase taught her there, while Dow's influence reached her largely through Bement's teaching and Dow's published ideas.