The Cone sisters, Dr. Claribel Cone and Miss Etta Cone, had a very sophisticated eye for art. They became very good friends with Henri Matisse, an artist from the south of France. The Cone sisters bought their first Matisse in 1906. They favored artists hardly known by their friends, such as Cezanne, Manet, Picasso, and Renoir. In the early 1900s, the Cone sisters became close friends with Gertrude Stein and her brother, Leo, and traveled with them through Paris and other European cities, visiting museums, galleries and artist studios–and buying art.
The sisters were best friends; they never married and lived in adjoining apartments that were crowded with art. Claribel, six years older than her sister, went to medical school and became one of the world’s first female physicians. She was bold and confident, while her sister Etta was timid and spent much of her life taking care of family members. While Etta seemed overpowered by her sister, she made most of the decisions when it came to buying art.
Claribel died in 1929, but Etta went on acquiring art and buying more paintings for their collection throughout the ‘30s and ‘40s before her death in 1949. Etta willed the entire collection to the Baltimore Museum of Art. After the Baltimore museum made its selections, the rest of the collection went to the Women’s College of the University of North Carolina, now called the Weatherspoon Art Museum. The Cone sisters had created one of the most important modern art collections of the 20th century.
Nasher Museum Blogs » Archive » Baltimore Ladies.” Nasher Museum Blogs RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2012.
Posted with Blogsy