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{{short description|American art collectors}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Cone sisters
| image = {{multiple image
| align = rightcenter
| total_width = 220
| image1 = Etta Cone, circa 1889.jpg
| caption1 = Etta Cone <br/> circa 1889
| image2 = Claribel Cone, circa 1891.jpg
| caption2 = Claribel Cone <br/> circa 1891
}}
| birth_date = Claribel – {{Birth date|1864|11|14}},<br/>Etta – {{Birth date|1870|11|30}}
| birth_place = [[Jonesboro, Tennessee]]
| death_date = Claribel – {{Death date and age|1929|09|20|1864|11|14}},<br/>Etta – {{Death date and age|1949|08|31|1870|11|30}}
| death_place = [[Baltimore, Maryland]]
| resting_place = [[Druid Ridge Cemetery]]<ref>The Cone Sisters of Baltimore: Collecting at Full Tilt, by Ellen B. Hirschland, Nancy Hirschland Ramage, Northwestern University Press, Jul 3, 2008</ref>
| education =
Western Female High School<br />
Women's Medical College (Claribel)
| occupation = Art collectors <br /> Physician/researcher (Claribel)
| parents = Herman (Kahn) Cone <br /> Helen (Guggenheimer) Cone
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
}}
'''Claribel Cone''' (1864–1929) and '''Etta Cone''' (1870–1949), collectively known as '''the Cone sisters''', were active as American art collectors, world travelers, and [[Socialite|socialites]] during the first part of the 20th century. Claribel trained as a [[physician]] and Etta as a [[pianist]]. Their social circle included [[Henri Matisse]], [[Pablo Picasso]] and [[Gertrude Stein]]. They gathered one of the best known [[Private collection|private collections]] of [[modern art]] in the United States at their [[Baltimore]] apartments, and the collection now makes up a wing of the [[Baltimore Museum of Art]]. Their collection was estimated to be worth almost a billion US dollars in 2002.
 
==Early life==
TheirThe Cones' parents were Herman (Kahn) Cone and Helen (Guggenheimer) Cone, who were [[GermanyGerman Jewish|German]]-[[JewJewish]]ish immigrants. Herman, who had immigrated from Altenstadt in [[Bavaria]] (South of Ulm), changed the spelling of[[anglicization|anglicized]] his last name<ref fromname="Hoyt Entrepreneur">{{Cite web |author= Lucius Wedge |url=http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=227 |title=Moses Herman Cone|access-date=April 15, 2021|quote= In ''KahnImmigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present'', vol. 3, edited by Giles R. Hoyt. German Historical Institute. Last modified February 24, 2015. }}</ref> (changing it from "Kahn" to "Cone") almost immediately upon arrival in the United States in 1845, perhaps because the new name sounded more American. Until 1871, the family lived in [[Jonesboro, Tennessee]], where they had a successful [[Grocery store|grocery]] business. This is where Claribel and Etta were born in Tennessee. Claribel, the fifth child in the family of thirteen children,<ref name="Etta"/> was born November 14, 1864. Etta, the ninth child in the family, was born November 30, 1870.{{sfn|Richardson|1985|page=47}} The Cone family had a history of slave ownership. Their father Herman and his brother-in-law Jacob Alder purchased three enslaved people in 1863.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://omeka-dev.library.appstate.edu/exhibits/show/dorm-histories-and-legacies/eastcampus/conehall |title=Cone Hall |publisher=[[Appalachian State University]] |accessdate=2024-04-23}}</ref>
 
The family then moved to [[Baltimore, Maryland]].<ref name="family">{{Cite web|last=Cone|first=Edward|date=October 11, 1999|title=Shirtsleeves to Matisses|url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/1011/6409098a.html?sh=1a6670174d1a|url-status=live|access-date=July 1, 2021|website=Forbes}}</ref> The eldest Cone brothers, [[Moses H. Cone|Moses]] and Ceasar, later moved permanently to [[Greensboro, North Carolina]]. They established a [[textile manufacturing]] business named the Proximity Manufacturing Company (later known as [[Cone Mills Corporation]], now a unit of [[International Textile Group]]). The textile mills that their brothers started would make the Cone sisters wealthy, as Moses and Ceasar shared in their goodfinancial fortunessuccess with their siblings.<ref name="family" />
 
The Cone sisters graduated from the [[Western High School (Maryland)|Western Female High School]]. Against family wishes, Claribel studied at the [[Women's Medical College inof Baltimore]].{{sfn|Hirschland|2008|page=71}} She graduated in 1890 and completed an internship at [[Blockley Hospital for the Insane]] in [[Philadelphia]]. She then worked in the [[pathology]] laboratory of the [[Johns Hopkins Medical School]] and did postgraduate work at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] with the ideaambition of becoming a medical doctor, but ultimately never practiced clinical [[medicine]]. Claribel focused instead on teaching and research as a professor of pathology for 25 years at the Women's Medical College.<ref name=pathology>{{Cite web|last=Malino |first=Sarah S.|date=1999|title=Claribel Cone|url= https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cone-claribel |access-date=July 4, 2021|website=The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women}}</ref> Etta was a pianist and managed the family household affairs.<ref name="Etta">{{Cite web|title=The Claribel and Etta Cone Collection|url=http://weatherspoon.uncg.edu/collections/cone_collection.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514210251/http://weatherspoon.uncg.edu/collections/cone_collection.html|archive-date=2008-05-14|access-date=2008-03-13|website=Weatherspoon Art Museum}}</ref>{{sfn|Richardson|1985|page=47}} The sisters traveled to Europe together yearly on long trips beginning in 1901.<ref name="family" />
 
==Art collecting and connections==
[[File:Residence of Caesar Cone, Greensboro, North Carolina, 1903.png|thumb|left|Caesar Cone's residence in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]], {{Circa|1903}}]]
[[File:Cone sisters with Gertrude Stein.jpg|thumb|upright 1.250|Cone sisters with Gertrude Stein, 1903|alt=Photo of three women dressed in Victorian skirts and blouses, seated together around a small table outdoors]]▼
The Cone sisters were friends of literary figures such as [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Alice B. Toklas]]. Their social circle included French artist [[Henri Matisse]] and Spanish painter [[Pablo Picasso]].<ref name=TBS7_16_1989>{{cite news |author= |title= Picasso's early works receive major exhibit |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80538420/ |newspaper= Rapid City Journal |location=Rapid City, South Dakota|date=July 16, 1989 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> Etta began purchasing art in 1898, when she was given $300 by a brother to brighten updecorate the family home.<ref name="Etta" /> Her purchase of five [[American Impressionism|impressionistic]] paintings by [[Theodore Robinson]] began a lifetime of collecting. Her tastes at first tended toward the conservative,<ref name="Collection" /> but one day in 1903, while the Cone sisters were on a European holiday, they visited Stein and her brother in [[Paris]].{{sfn|Pollack|1962|pages=59{{ndash}}69}} Etta was introduced to Picasso, followed by Matisse the next year, marking the beginning of her lifelong love of his art.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2007|title=Cone Collection|url=http://www.artbma.org/collection/overview/cone.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019145733/http://www.artbma.org/collection/overview/cone.html|archive-date=October 19, 2014|website=Baltimore Museum of Art}}</ref><ref name="letters">{{Cite web|title=The Etta Cone Letters, 1927–1949|url=http://library.uncg.edu/depts/archives/mss/html/Mss058.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100731023408/http://library.uncg.edu/depts/archives/mss/html/Mss058.htm|archive-date=2010-07-31|access-date=2007-10-12|website=University of North Carolina, Greensboro}}</ref><ref name=TBS4_22_2001>{{cite news |author= |title= A Tale of Two Collectors |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80499018/ |newspaper= The Baltimore Sun |location=Baltimore, Maryland|date=April 22, 2001 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> The relationship the Cone sisters developed with Matisse over the years was so close he referred to them as "my two Baltimore ladies."<ref name="TBS5_25_2012">{{cite news|author=Kevin Griffin|date=May 25, 2012|title=Bold vision in Baltimore|newspaper=The Vancouver Sun|location=Vancouver, Canada|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80532180/|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> Matisse once did a sketch of Etta.<ref name="TES1_18_1986">{{cite news|author=Jean A. Cadden|date=January 18, 1986|title=The Cone sisters - A Craving for Beauty|newspaper=The EveningSun|location=Baltimore, Maryland|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80533127/|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> ▼
[[File:Marlborough Apartments, 1701 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, MD 21217 (32976829615).jpg|thumb|upright 1.250|Marlborough Apartments, where the Cone sisters lived in Baltimore on Eutaw Street|alt=Photo looking upwards at a large, rectangular high-rise apartment building]]▼
▲The Cone sisters were friends of literary figures such as [[Gertrude Stein]] and [[Alice B. Toklas]]. Their social circle included French artist [[Henri Matisse]] and Spanish painter [[Pablo Picasso]].<ref name=TBS7_16_1989>{{cite news |author= |title= Picasso's early works receive major exhibit |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80538420/ |newspaper= Rapid City Journal |location=Rapid City, South Dakota|date=July 16, 1989 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> Etta began purchasing art in 1898, when she was given $300 by a brother to brighten up the family home.<ref name="Etta" /> Her purchase of five [[American Impressionism|impressionistic]] paintings by [[Theodore Robinson]] began a lifetime of collecting. Her tastes at first tended toward the conservative,<ref name="Collection" /> but one day in 1903, while the Cone sisters were on a European holiday, they visited Stein and her brother in [[Paris]].{{sfn|Pollack|1962|pages=59{{ndash}}69}} Etta was introduced to Picasso followed by Matisse the next year, marking the beginning of her lifelong love of his art.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2007|title=Cone Collection|url=http://www.artbma.org/collection/overview/cone.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019145733/http://www.artbma.org/collection/overview/cone.html|archive-date=October 19, 2014|website=Baltimore Museum of Art}}</ref><ref name="letters">{{Cite web|title=The Etta Cone Letters, 1927–1949|url=http://library.uncg.edu/depts/archives/mss/html/Mss058.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100731023408/http://library.uncg.edu/depts/archives/mss/html/Mss058.htm|archive-date=2010-07-31|access-date=2007-10-12|website=University of North Carolina, Greensboro}}</ref><ref name=TBS4_22_2001>{{cite news |author= |title= A Tale of Two Collectors |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80499018/ |newspaper= The Baltimore Sun |location=Baltimore, Maryland|date=April 22, 2001 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> The relationship the Cone sisters developed with Matisse over the years was so close he referred to them as "my two Baltimore ladies."<ref name="TBS5_25_2012">{{cite news|author=Kevin Griffin|date=May 25, 2012|title=Bold vision in Baltimore|newspaper=The Vancouver Sun|location=Vancouver, Canada|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80532180/|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> Matisse once did a sketch of Etta.<ref name="TES1_18_1986">{{cite news|author=Jean A. Cadden|date=January 18, 1986|title=The Cone sisters - A Craving for Beauty|newspaper=The EveningSun|location=Baltimore, Maryland|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80533127/|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref>
 
Etta made purchases to help climbingupcoming artists like Matisse, Picasso, and – at home – students of the [[Maryland Institute College of Art|Maryland Institute College (MICA)]]. She also bought at very low prices from the Steins, who were perpetually in need of money and were known to purchase discarded sketches from Picasso at his art studio for two or three dollars apiece to take home.<ref name="Collection">{{Cite web|last=Carter|first=Ashley|title=Inside the Cone Collection: Baltimore Sisters Amassed A Treasure Trove Of Art|url=https://www.frugalfun.com/cone-collection.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-04|website=Frugal Fun}}</ref> Claribel acquired much more [[avant-garde|experimental grade]] works. She purchased Matisse's ''[[Blue Nude (Souvenir de Biskra)|Blue Nude]]'' for 120,760 [[French franc|francs]] and [[Paul Cézanne]]'s mountain painting ''[[Montagne Sainte-Victoire|Mont Sainte Victoire as Seen From Bibemus Quarry]]'' for 410,000 francs. Etta, being more financially conservative, was more likely to spend 10,000 francs for a collection of drawings or paintings.<ref name="Archives">{{Cite web|date=June 24, 2004|title=Cone Sisters|url=http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000067/html/t67.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916171810/http://teachingamericanhistorymd.net/000001/000000/000067/html/t67.html|archive-date=2007-09-16|access-date=2008-03-13|website=Maryland State Archives}}</ref> The Cone sisters had a special interest in Matisse's [[Nice]] period.<ref name="Matisse" /> After Claribel's death, Etta became more adventurous in her purchases, for instance, purchasing Matisse's ''Large Reclining Nude'' (''The Pink Nude'') for 9,000 francs in 1936, or about $2,000 US at the time ({{Inflation|US|2,000|1936|2019|fmt=eq}}).{{sfn|Hirschland|2008|pages=152-154}}
 
Gertrude Stein and her older brother [[Leo Stein]] had been orphaned in 1892 and relocated to Baltimore to reside with their mother's sister.{{sfn|Shivers|1998|page=269}} This had led to their becoming part of the Cone sisters' social crowd. During Claribel's time at the Women's Medical College of [[Johns Hopkins University]], Gertrude was also studying there. There was a large age gap between Claribel and Gertrude. These individualistic women were attracted to each other, however, by their common interest in music, fine arts, and sociable conversations. Etta credited Leo with helping her develop an appreciation of [[modern art]].{{sfn|Fillion|2011|page=23}} Etta was more reserved. She admired Gertrude's [[Bohemianism|Bohemian]] lifestyle, and biographer Brenda Richardson concludes that there is a strong possibility Etta and Gertrude were at one point lovers.<ref name="shoppers">{{Cite news|last=Cotter|first=Holland|date=October 30, 1994|title=ART; The Cone Sisters: Shoppers or Connoisseurs?|work=The New York Times|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9B03E7DD123AF933A05753C1A962958260.html}}</ref>▼
 
▲[[File:Cone sisters with Gertrude Stein.jpg|thumb|upright 1.250|right|Cone sisters with Gertrude Stein, 1903|alt=Photo of three women dressed in Victorian skirts and blouses, seated together around a small table outdoors]]
The sisters' particular social contacts produced an advantage from which they could compile a world-renowned art collection.<ref name="Matisse">{{Cite web|title=Matisse in the Cone Collection: The Poetics of Vision|url=https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-912298-73-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630024956/https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-912298-73-1.html|archive-date=June 30, 2013|website=The Pennsylvania State University Press}}</ref> The Cone sisters built up a large collection of paintings and sculptures by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, [[Paul Gauguin]] and [[Vincent van Gogh]].<ref name="Collection" /> The Cone sisters never married, which was the case for only about ten percent of women during this era. Customary to their rank in society, they traveled and associated with other similar women. Claribel's quest for a medical education was considered unrefined for a woman in her social sphere.<ref Name="Etta" /> The Cone sisters' use of the family's wealth to collect fine artwork was rare among women. When they went to the opera in Paris, they would buy an extra seat to hold the purchases they had made that day.<ref name="family" />▼
▲Gertrude Stein and her older brother [[Leo Stein]] had been orphaned in 1892 and relocated to Baltimore to reside with their mother's sister.{{sfn|Shivers|1998|page=269}} This had led to their becoming part of the Cone sisters' social crowd. During Claribel's time at the Women's Medical College of [[Johns Hopkins University]], Gertrude was also studying there. There was a largewere agemany gapdifferences between Claribel and Gertrude. These individualistic women were attracted to each other, however, by their common interest in music, fine arts, and sociable conversations. Etta credited Leo Stein with helping her develop an appreciation of [[modern art]].{{sfn|Fillion|2011|page=23}} Etta was more reserved. She admired Gertrude's [[Bohemianism|Bohemian]] lifestyle, and biographer [[Brenda Richardson]] concludes that there is a strong possibility Etta and Gertrude were at one point lovers.<ref name="shoppers">{{Cite news|last=Cotter|first=Holland|date=October 30, 1994|title=ART; The Cone Sisters: Shoppers or Connoisseurs?|work=The New York Times|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9B03E7DD123AF933A05753C1A962958260.html}}</ref>
 
▲[[File:Marlborough Apartments, 1701 Eutaw Place, Baltimore, MD 21217 (32976829615).jpg|thumb|left|upright 1.250|Marlborough Apartments, where the Cone sisters lived in Baltimore on Eutaw Street|alt=Photo looking upwards at a large, rectangular high-rise apartment building]]
Gertrude Stein later tried to downplay the Cone sisters as mere shoppers guided by their taste. In fact, the sisters had an excellent feel for fine art, influenced by the large collection of books on art which they purchased and used.{{sfn|Aichele|2016|page=146}} The two sisters lived in apartments next to each other at the Marlborough Apartment building on [[Eutaw Street]] in the [[Bolton Hill, Baltimore|Bolton Hill]] neighborhood of Baltimore for fifty years. Their art was hung on the walls of their individual apartments. The sisters' nephew later recollected that their display of pictures covered most of the wall space, even the bathroom walls.<ref name="Collection" />▼
▲The sisters' particular social contacts produced an advantage from which they could compile a world-renowned art collection.<ref name="Matisse">{{Cite web|title=Matisse in the Cone Collection: The Poetics of Vision|url=https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-912298-73-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630024956/https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-912298-73-1.html|archive-date=June 30, 20132018|website=The Pennsylvania State University Press}}</ref> The Cone sisters built up a large collection of paintings and sculptures by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, [[Paul Gauguin]] and [[Vincent van Gogh]].<ref name="Collection" /> The Cone sisters never married, which was the case for only about ten percent of women during this era. Customary to their rank in society, they traveled and associated with other similar women. Claribel's quest for a medical education was considered unrefined for a woman in her social sphere.<ref Name="Etta" /> The Cone sisters' use of the family's wealth to collect fine artwork was rare among women. When they went to the opera in Paris, they would buy an extra seat to hold the purchases they had made that day.<ref name="family" />
 
▲Gertrude Stein later tried to downplayundermine the Cone sisters as mere shoppers guided by their taste. In fact, the sisters had an excellent feel for fine art, influenced by the large collection of books on art which they purchased and used.{{sfn|Aichele|2016|page=146}} The two sisters lived in apartments next to each other at the Marlborough Apartment building on [[Eutaw Street]] in the [[Bolton Hill, Baltimore|Bolton Hill]] neighborhood of Baltimore for fifty years. Their art was hung on the walls of their individual apartments. The sisters' nephew later recollected that their display of pictures covered most of the wall space, even the bathroom walls.<ref name="Collection" />
 
The Cone sisters also had an impressive collection of [[lace]] acquired from various European sources. From early [[drawnwork]] styles such as [[reticella]], to [[needle lace]] and [[bobbin lace]] styles spanning the centuries, the Cone sisters amassed important examples that also reside in the [[Baltimore Museum of Art]] today and have been exhibited.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McNatt |first=Glenn |date=2002-03-31 |title=Cone sisters' collection of lace gets a rare exhibit |work=The Baltimore Sun |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2005-03-31-0503300033-story.html |access-date=2023-01-15}}</ref> Examples of the Cone lace pieces include a [[Chantilly lace]] fan,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Georges |date=1908 |title=Black Chantilly Bobbin Lace Fan Leaf |url=https://collection.artbma.org/objects/43746/black-chantilly-bobbin-lace-fan-leaf |access-date=2023-01-15 |website=Baltimore Museum of Art}}</ref> a [[Point de France]] flounce,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Point de France Needle Lace Furnishing Flounce |url=https://collection.artbma.org/objects/43759/point-de-france-needle-lace-furnishing-flounce |access-date=2023-01-15 |website=Baltimore Museum of Art}}</ref> and many other styles.
 
==Museum legacies==
[[File:1baltomuseum.jpg|thumb|upright 1.250|Baltimore Museum of Art|alt=Photo of a large building with Grecian-style pillars, trees, and a lion statue nearby ]]
While the sisters' collection remained private until Etta's death, Etta occasionally lent pieces to museums tofor exhibitexhibition. Claribel had willed her artistic paintings to Etta, spelling out in her will that these paintings should be transferred to the [[Baltimore Museum of Art]] if there was an interest in modern art. The bulk of the collection eventually went to that museum by Etta's will, and a new wing was added to the museum for the [[Cone collection|Cone Collection]] in 1957. The collection consists of approximately 3,000 items the Cone sisters had acquired over fifty50 years. The collection has not only French art, but American art as well,{{sfn|Richardson|1985|page=9}} including over 1000 American prints, illustrated books, and drawings. Among these were cloth goods, [[costume jewelry]], tables, chairs, and cabinets.<ref name="shoppers" /> The Cone sisters' items also include [[Coptic architecture|Coptic fragments]], [[Middle Eastern]] silks, eighteenth -century jewelry, nineteenth -century furniture, [[oriental rugs]], African adornment, [[Japanese prints]], [[Egyptian art|Egyptian sculpture]], and antique [[ivory carving]]s. The Cone Collection is used by art students and scholars from around the world as a research source.{{sfn|Richardson|1985|page=9}} The estimated value of the Cone Collection in 2002 was close to $1 billion.{{sfn|Gabriel|2002|page=218}}▼
[[File:Weatherspoon Art Museum.JPG|thumb|upright 1.250|Weatherspoon Art Museum|alt=Photo of a red-brick building with the words "Weatherspoon Art Museum" spelled out near the rooftop.]]▼
▲While the sisters' collection remained private until Etta's death, Etta occasionally lent pieces to museums to exhibit. Claribel had willed her artistic paintings to Etta, spelling out in her will that these paintings should be transferred to the [[Baltimore Museum of Art]] if there was an interest in modern art. The bulk of the collection eventually went to that museum by Etta's will, and a new wing was added to the museum for the Cone Collection in 1957. The collection consists of approximately 3,000 items the Cone sisters had acquired over fifty years. The collection has not only French art, but American art as well. The Cone sisters' items include [[Coptic architecture|Coptic fragments]], [[Middle Eastern]] silks, eighteenth century jewelry, nineteenth century furniture, [[oriental rugs]], African adornment, Japanese prints, Egyptian sculpture, and antique [[ivory carving]]s. The Cone Collection is used by art students and scholars from around the world as a research source.{{sfn|Richardson|1985|page=9}}
 
▲[[File:Weatherspoon Art Museum.JPG|thumb|left|upright 1.250|Weatherspoon Art Museum|alt=Photo of a red-brick building with the words "Weatherspoon Art Museum" spelled out near the rooftop.]]
{{anchor|Cone Collection}}The Cone Collection includes pieces from world-famous artists: Matisse's ''Blue Nude'' (1907) and ''Reclining Nude'' (1935), Cézanne's ''Mont Sainte Victoire as seen from Bibémus Quarry'' (1897), Gauguin's ''[[Vahine no te vi|Woman of Mango]]'' (1892), and Picasso's ''Mother with Child'' (1922).<ref name="shoppers" /> The Cone sisters collected allpieces from throughthroughout Matisse's painting career, accumulating 42 of his oil paintings, 16 sculptures, 35 drawings, 150 prints, and a half dozen books of illustration –, as well as over 200 hand drawings, art prints, and illustrated [[Copper-plate|copper plates]] from Matisse's first published book of illustration, ''[[Poésies de Stéphane Mallarmé]]''. Other Matisse works they acquired were the 1917 ''Woman in a Turban (Lorette)'', ''Seated Odalisque, Knee Bent, Ornamental Background'' (1928), and ''Interior, Flowers with Parakeets'' (1924).<ref name="shoppers" /> The 500 works by Matisse in the Cone sisters' collection form the largest and most representative group of his art work in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Turner: Reflections of Sea and Light - Venues|url=httpshttp://tate.org.uk/international/reflections/venues.html|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110802133000/http://tate.org.uk/international/reflections/venues.html|archive-date=2011-08-02|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-04|website=The National Archives}}</ref>
 
The Cone sisters bought andalso acquired many of Picasso's works, and among these were 114 of his prints and drawings from his early years in [[Barcelona]] and from his [[Rose Period|Rose period]] (1905–1906) in Paris. The Cone sisters also obtained fine arts by American artists: over a thousand prints, illustrated books, and drawings. Among these were cloth goods, [[costume jewelry]], tables, chairs, and cabinets. They not only purchased the finest European and Asian artwork, but also Egyptian sculpture, Near East textiles, Indian artworks in metal, French jewelry of the 1700s, Japanese prints, and African sculpture.<ref name="shoppers" /> The Cone Collection was passed onto the Baltimore Museum of Art by Etta's will when she died in 1949. The Cone Wing contains over 3000 works.<ref name="Collection" /> The estimated value of the Cone Collection in 2002 was close to $1 billion.{{sfn|Gabriel|2002|page=218}}
 
A portion of the Cone art collection, including many Matisse [[Lithography|lithographs]] and bronzes, resides at the [[Weatherspoon Art Museum]] at the [[University of North Carolina at Greensboro|University of North Carolina]], where the Cone Mills were located. Moses Cone had his's vacation home [[Flat Top Manor]] was located in nearby [[Blowing Rock, North Carolina]], and the Cone sisters often visited their brother there.<ref name="family" /><ref name="Archives" /> Other visitors included Julius Cone – another of the Cone siblings – and his wife Laura, who was a pastan graduatealumnus of the University of North Carolina. Laura was aware that the Weatherspoon Art Gallery had been formed on the campus in 1942, and she asked Etta if she would be interested in making a gift of art. In her will, Etta left an endowment to the Weatherspoon Art Gallery consisting of sixty-seven Matisse prints, six Matisse bronzes, several modern prints, and art by Picasso, [[Félix Vallotton]], [[Raoul Dufy]], and [[John D. Graham]].<ref name="Etta" />
 
==Death==
Claribel died September 20, 1929.<ref name="TES9_24_1929">{{cite news|author=|date=September 24, 1929|title=Claribel Cone dies on visit to Switzerland|newspaper=The Evening Sun|location=Baltimore, Maryland|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/19641651/the-evening-sun/|via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> Etta died on August 31, 1949.<ref name=TBS7_14_1992>{{cite news |author= |title= Still Faithful to the Cones |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80498290/ |newspaper= The Baltimore Sun|location=Baltimore, Maryland|date=July 14, 1992 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}}}}</ref> The Cone sisters arewere buried at Baltimore's [[Druid Ridge Cemetery]] in an area called Hickory Knoll. The only word on their ten -by -ten family [[mausoleum]] is "Cone". Architect James O. Olney designed the Tennessee marble [[mausoleum]], which is flanked by two Roman -style columns of Vermont granite thatand has two age-darkened bronze doors in front.{{sfn|Gabriel|2002|page=218}} On each vault is their name with their birth and death dates.{{sfn|Gabriel|2002|page=218}}
 
==Footnotes==
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==Sources==
 
*{{cite book|last=Aichele|first= K. Porter|year=2016 |publisher=University of Delaware Press |place = |title=Modern Art on Display |url= https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Modern_Art_on_Display/1_YMDAAAQBAJ?hlid=en&gbpv=11_YMDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Cone+sisters%22+collection+of+books+on+art&pg=PA146&printsec=frontcover |isbn=9781611496178}}
 
*{{cite book|last=Fillion|first= SeanSusan|year=2011 |publisher=David R. Godine |place =Boston, Massachusetts |title=Miss Etta and Dr. Claribel |url= https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Miss_Etta_and_Dr_Claribel/?id=e124OYNMx-MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&kptab=overview |isbn=9781567924343}}
 
*{{cite book|last=Gabriel|first= Mary |year=2002 |publisher=Bancroft Press |place =Baltimore, Maryland |title=Art of Acquiring: The Portrait of Etta & Claribel Cone|url= https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Acquiring/WzeaFnNIcc8C?hlid=en&gbpv=0WzeaFnNIcc8C |isbn=9781890862732}}
 
* {{cite book|last= Hirschland|first=Ellan B. |title= The Cone Sisters of Baltimore| url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/The_Cone_Sisters_of_Baltimore/am0keDuFAZQC?hlid=en&gbpv=1am0keDuFAZQC&dqq=%22Etta+Cone%22+became+more+adventurous+in+her+purchases,+for+instance,+purchasing+Matisse%27s+Large+Reclining+Nude+(%22The+Pink+Nude%22)+in+1935&printsec=frontcover |date=2008|publisher=Northwestern University Press |location=Chicago, Illinois|isbn=9780810124813 }}
 
*{{cite book|last=Pollack|first= Barbara|year=1962 |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill Company |place =Indianapolis, Indiana|title=Collectors: Dr. Claribel & Miss Etta Cone|url= https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/The_Collectors/FeoPAQAAMAAJ?hlid=en&gbpv=0&kptab=overviewFeoPAQAAMAAJ |oclc=186870265}}
 
*{{cite book|last=Richardson|first= Brenda |year=1985 |publisher=Baltimore Museum of Art |place =Baltimore, Maryland |title=Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta|url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Dr_Claribel_Miss_Etta/kaTpAAAAMAAJ?hlid=en&gbpv=0kaTpAAAAMAAJ |isbn=0912298588}}
 
*{{cite book|last=Shivers|first= Frank R.|year=1998 |publisher=John[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |place=Baltimore, Maryland |title=Maryland Wits and Baltimore Bards|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nootH_DHnW4C&dq=Gertrude+Stein+and+her+older+brother+Leo+Stein+were+orphaned&pg=PA269 |isbn=9780801858109}}
Maryland Wits and Baltimore Bards|url= https://www.google.com/books/edition/Maryland_Wits_and_Baltimore_Bards/nootH_DHnW4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Gertrude+Stein+and+her+older+brother+Leo+Stein+were+orphaned&pg=PA269&printsec=frontcover |isbn=9780801858109}}
 
==External links==
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20110727024446/http://www.artbma.org/library/finding_aids/ConePapersSeries1-4-6.html Claribel and Etta Cone's documents at Baltimore Museum of Art.]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110813154713/http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/conecollection Collecting Matisse and the modern masters works: Cone Sisters of Baltimore Exhibition] (2011) at [[Jewish Museum (New York)|Jewish Museum (New York City)]]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=CONE&GSiman=1&GScid=80903&GRid=32681149& Claribel Cone's memorial at Find-a-Grave]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=CONE&GSiman=1&GScid=80903&GRid=32681282& Etta Cone's memorial at Find-a-Grave]
* [http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cone-claribel "Claribel Cone"], Jewish Women: Historical Encyclopedia, Sarah S. Malino
* [http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cone-etta "Etta Cone"], Jewish Women Archive, Harriet Feinberg
 
 
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[[Category:American socialites]]
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[[Category:1864 births]]▼
[[Category:1870 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American women physicians]]
[[Category:20th-century American physicians]]
[[Category:19th-century American women physicians]]
[[Category:19th-century American physicians]]
[[Category:People from Jonesborough, Tennessee]]
▲[[Category:1864Jewish birthsart collectors]]
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