Modern masters’ Vancouver debut
Baltimore’s Cone sisters amassed amazing collection from Matisse to Picasso.
Aunique exhibition of works by Henri Matisse and other modernist artists collected by two sisters from Baltimore in the early part of the 20th century opens today at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The two sisters, Claribel and Etta Cone, were two of 11 surviving children of GermanJewish immigrants. Over the course of five decades starting in 1898, the sisters amassed over 3,000 artworks and decorative objects, including more than 500 paintings, sculptures and drawings by Matisse — the world’s largest private collection of his work.
When Etta, who survived Claribel, died in 1949, she bequeathed their collection to the Baltimore Museum of Art.
The VAG exhibition, called “Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore,” is composed of some of the best works from the BMA’S Cone Collection, including major paintings, drawings and sculptures by Matisse along with paintings and other works by artists such as Paul Gauguin, PierreAuguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso.
The process of bringing the Cone Collection to Vancouver began about three years ago, said Thomas Padon, the VAG’S assistant director and director of international partnerships.
When the Jewish Museum in New York put together an exhibition of the best works from the Cone collection in 2011, VAG officials saw a perfect opportunity to partner with the two institutions to bring most of the same pieces to Canada.
The modernist artists collected by the sisters are now recognized as among the best of the early 20th century. But at the time the Cone sisters were collecting them, they were considered radical, avant garde works, Padon said in a phone interview.
“They were not buying them for status,” Padon said. “They were deeply involved with the work — and Etta was deeply involved with Matisse. They really loved this work.”
The relationship the Cone sisters developed with Matisse over the years was so close that the artist referred to them as “my two Baltimore ladies.”
“It is unusual for two unmarried women to be out there negotiating these deals for themselves,” Padon said. “They were fearless, gutsy people. They weren’t two usual women of their time. They weren’t interested in staying home and settling down. They really had a passion for art and they pursued it.”
Claribel was a forceful, intelligent woman who attended one of the few medical schools that accepted women and became a pathologist, one of only a handful of female doctors in the U. S. at the time.
While Etta deferred to her older sister Claribel, it was she who surprised everyone by buying art and starting the collection.
A year after their father Herman died in 1898, Etta received $ 300 to decorate the family home. Instead of buying vases, textiles or other decorative objects as everyone expected, she bought five paintings by U. S. impressionist Theodore Robinson in New York.
What made reticent Etta do something as bold as buying the work of a relatively unknown American artist working in a style that was still considered provocative?
It’s a question that has intrigued Katy Rothkopf for 12 years ever since she became the senior curator of European painting and sculpture at the Baltimore Museum of Art where she’s responsible for the Cone Collection.
“I always assumed that it was something to do with Gertrude and Leo,” Rothkopf said from Baltimore.
“I’m not 100- per- cent sure but that’s always been my thought.”
The Gertude and Leo she’s referring to are the Stein siblings. Gertrude would go on to become one of the great U. S. writers of the 20th century and her brother, Leo, a highly- regarded art collector and critic.
The initial connection between the two families occurred in Baltimore where Gertrude and Leo moved to live with relatives of their late mother, according to the catalogue.
Later, Gertrude returned to Baltimore for medical school where she had daily talks with Claribel on the way to Johns Hopkins University. The Steins were also part of the salon- like gatherings held by the Cone sisters on Saturday evenings that attracted Baltimore’s artistic and cultural elite.
On Etta’s first trip to Europe in 1901, she was shown around and taken under Leo’s wing.
On subsequent trips to Europe, the Cone sisters focused on Paris where the Steins lived. Their friendship with them gave the two sisters an introduction to two of the leading contemporary artists of their time — Picasso and Matisse.
“The Steins were really important to forming the esthetic choices that the Cones later made,” Rothkopf said.
In the seven years before Claribel’s death in 1929, as the family’s wealth increased, the sisters’ collecting went into high gear. They bought so many paintings, sculptures and decorative objects, that Claribel referred to her suite across from Etta’s on the eighth floor in the Marlborough Apartments in Baltimore as “my museum.” It grew so crowded, she had to move to another apartment in the building.
In the last 20 years of her life, Etta became increasingly confident and assured as a collector. She produced a book about their collection and became very involved with the Baltimore Museum of Art. She also grew closer to Matisse.
Matisse paid Etta a pivotal visit in Baltimore the year after her sister died. Matisse realized the Cones had been serious collectors of his work since 1906 and remained one of his few long- term collectors.
“When he saw what they actually bought, not only works of his but works by artists he loved, I think he realized that if he played his cards right, he could have a major presence in a major east coast museum,” Rothkopf said.
“One of the sweet parts of the story is the relationship between Matisse and Etta which continued up to her death.”
Rothkopf said she believes the sisters bought what was considered difficult, avant garde art because of their personal relationships with the artists and the Steins.
“I think that made a big difference,” she said. “Certainly with Etta, it was the relationship with Matisse. The reason they bought 500 works by Matisse was because she really liked him. She thought he was a great guy and loved all aspects of his art making. She wanted to collect every aspect of him.”