Which university employed Georgia O'Keeffe as a drawing instructor in Virginia from 1912 to 1914?

The University of Virginia employed Georgia O'Keeffe as a drawing instructor from 1912 to 1914.

After studying art and working as a commercial artist, O'Keeffe returned to teaching. She taught at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville from 1912 to 1914, where she instructed students in drawing. The position gave her a stable professional role while she continued thinking about how art could move beyond academic imitation.

During this period, O'Keeffe encountered the ideas of Arthur Wesley Dow, an influential teacher who emphasized composition, line, tone, and personal expression. Dow’s approach offered an alternative to the rigid realism she had been taught earlier. His influence helped O'Keeffe begin producing abstract charcoal drawings that later attracted Stieglitz’s attention.

The university appointment is sometimes confused with her later positions at Columbia College in South Carolina and West Texas State Normal College. Those teaching jobs were also important, but they occurred at different points in her career. Her Virginia years belong to the transition between formal art training and the radical abstractions that established her as a modernist.