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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 =
| total_width = 220
| image1 = Etta Cone, circa 1889.jpg
| caption1 = Etta Cone
| image2 = Claribel Cone, circa 1891.jpg
| caption2 = Claribel Cone
}}
| 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 /> | occupation
| parents
| nationality =
}}
'''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==
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
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
==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
[[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
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
▲[[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,
▲Gertrude Stein later tried to
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
[[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 50 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 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|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 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
The Cone sisters also acquired many of Picasso's works, and among these were 114 prints and drawings from his early years in [[Barcelona]] and from his [[Rose Period|Rose period]] (1905–1906) in Paris.<ref name="shoppers" />
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
==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 were 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 and has two age-darkened bronze doors in front.{{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://
*{{cite book|last=Fillion|first=
*{{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://
* {{cite book|last= Hirschland|first=Ellan B. |title= The Cone Sisters of Baltimore| url=https://
*{{cite book|last=Pollack|first= Barbara|year=1962 |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill Company |place =Indianapolis, Indiana|title=Collectors: Dr. Claribel & Miss Etta Cone|url= https://
*{{cite book|last=Richardson|first= Brenda |year=1985 |publisher=Baltimore Museum of Art |place =Baltimore, Maryland |title=Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta|url=https://
*{{cite book|last=Shivers|first= Frank R.|year=1998 |publisher=
==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-etta "Etta Cone"], Jewish Women Archive, Harriet Feinberg
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[[Category:American art collectors]]
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[[Category:American women art collectors]]
[[Category:American people of German-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:People from Baltimore]]
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[[Category:American socialites]]
[[Category:Burials at Druid Ridge Cemetery]]
[[Category:1864 births]]▼
[[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]]
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