COLLECTING MATISSE AND MODERN MASTERS:
The Cone Sisters of Baltimore
May 26 to September 30, 2012 - The Vancouver Art Gallery
Visit the Vancouver Art Gallery this summer to view an amazing survey of early European modernist work, all courtesy of the enigmatic duo, The Cone Sisters. More details on the exhibition can be found below."Nu bleu: Souvenir de Biskra". Oil on canvas. 92 x 140 cm. In the Cone collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art |
At the turn of the twentieth century, sisters Etta and
Claribel Cone began to amass a collection of 3,000 objects, forming one
of the world's greatest holdings of early European Modernism. This
exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view nearly 50 exceptional
works from their stunning collection, which was donated to The Baltimore
Museum of Art in 1949. The highlight of the Cone Collection is a group
of works by Henri Matisse, making The Baltimore Museum of Art's Matisse
collection the largest and most comprehensive in the world.
Etta and Claribel Cone were ardent and early patrons of the French
avant–garde, meeting Matisse, Pablo Picasso and other artists during
their trips to Paris in the first decade of the twentieth century. The
Cones developed a close relationship with Matisse, purchasing their
first works by the artist directly from his studio and corresponding
with him for more than four decades. Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters
includes 27 signature works by Matisse, providing a stunning overview
of his remarkable career. Featured are early canvases, including Yellow
Pottery from Provence–the first Matisse painting to enter the sisters'
collection–and examples of his landscapes from the 1920s. Around the
same time, Matisse began to pose exotically dressed female models in
lavish interiors decorated with vibrantly coloured and textured fabrics
from North Africa and the Middle East. In works such as Standing
Odalisque Reflected in a Mirror and Interior, Flowers and Parakeets,
Matisse celebrated pattern, form and colour.
The beautiful group of works by Matisse is complemented by other
important paintings, drawings and sculpture from the Cone Collection,
including a haunting Blue Period painting by Picasso titled Woman with Bangs,
along with a selection of drawings from 1906, a pivotal moment in the
artist’s career. In addition, the exhibition features well–known
paintings from the mid–to late–nineteenth century by Gustave Courbet,
Pierre–Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, among others.
Also included is a selection of diaries and account books kept by Etta
Cone and correspondence between the sisters and Henri Matisse. This
material underscores the degree to which art was an integral part of the
Cone sisters' lives and the depth of their relationships with many of
the artists they supported, and illuminates the fascinating experiences
of these passionate and visionary art patrons and collectors.
Organized by The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, New York, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Organized by The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, New York, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
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