The Cone Sisters Of Baltimore Premieres at The Jewish Museum 5/6

Henri Matisse called them "my two Baltimore ladies." Their friend Gertrude Stein wrote a poem about them entitled "Two Women." The sisters Dr. Claribel Cone (1864-1929) and Miss Etta Cone (1870-1949) began buying art directly out of the Parisian studios of avant-garde artists in 1905. Although their taste for this radical art was little understood - critics disparaged Matisse at the time and Pablo Picasso was virtually unknown - the Cones followed their passions and eventually amassed one of the world's greatest art collections.

The Jewish Museum will present Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore, an exhibition of over 50 works from The Baltimore Museum of Art's internationally renowned Cone Collection, from May 6 through September 25, 2011. Paintings, sculptures and works on paper by such artists as Matisse, Picasso, Cézanne, Gauguin, Renoir, and van Gogh will be featured. Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters will focus on the remarkable vision of these two Jewish sisters from Baltimore and the personal relationships they formed with of-the-moment contemporary artists as they shaped their extraordinary collection. In addition to masterworks of French art, the exhibition will include textiles, decorative arts, arts of Asia and Africa, photographs, and archival materials to place the Cone sisters' remarkable story in the context of the exciting world of modern art and the artists who made history. Ten of the fine art works and all of the textiles and decorative arts have never been seen in New York City before.

The exhibition is organized by The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Following its New York showing, Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore will travel to the Vancouver Art Gallery (June 2 to September 23, 2012).

The exhibition is sponsored by Deutsche Bank and supported by other generous donors.

Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters includes iconic paintings by Matisse such as Standing Odalisque Reflected in a Mirror (1923), Interior, Flowers and Parakeets (1924), Large Reclining Nude (1935), and Striped Robe, Fruit, and Anemones (1940). Pablo Picasso's Blue period Woman with Bangs (1902), as well as a Picasso sculpture and several of his early drawings are also on view. Other highlights include Gauguin's Tahitian masterpiece, Vahine no te vi (Woman of the Mango) (1892), Gustave Courbet's The Shaded Stream at Le Puits Noir (c. 1860-65) and Camille Pissarro's The Highway (La Côte du Valhermeil, Auvers-sur-Oise) (1880). Also on display are important paintings by Delacroix, Renoir, and van Gogh.

The story of the Cone sisters unfolds in the exhibition beginning with their German-Jewish social circle in Baltimore, where they first met Gertrude Stein and her brother, Leo. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Claribel Cone held lively Saturday evening salons in their family's Baltimore home which the Steins attended as young adults.

Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters retraces the Cone sisters' travels, first to Italy and France, then around the world, and back to Paris where they purchased many outstanding works of art. They were among the earliest collectors to bring European modern art to the United States several years before the famed New York Armory Show of 1913. Their story will be brought to life through archival materials, including Etta's diary from her first trip to Italy where Leo Stein introduced her to Renaissance art, and Etta and Claribel's account books showing their passion for collecting. Visitors will be able to see excerpts from Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse, a 2003 film originally aired on BBC One throughout the United Kingdom. An interactive, touch-screen computer tour of the Cones' adjoining apartments in Baltimore will reveal how the sisters lived with their art and objects.

Claribel and Etta Cone amassed an exceptional collection of approximately 3,000 objects, many of which were displayed in their Baltimore apartments. The highlight is a group of 500 works by Matisse, considered the largest and most significant in the world. When Claribel died in 1929, she left her collection to Etta. When Etta died in 1949 she bequeathed the collection, and nearly $400,000 to construct a wing to house it, to The Baltimore Museum of Art.

Karen Levitov, Associate Curator at The Jewish Museum, is the curator of the exhibition. Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore is organized by The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum, New York, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. All works of art are on loan from the collection of The Baltimore Museum of Art: The Cone Collection, formed by Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta Cone of Baltimore, Maryland.

Exhibition Catalogue
An 80-page catalogue, co-published by The Jewish Museum and Yale University Press, contains 62 color and 18 black and white illustrations; an essay by Ms. Levitov; a conversation with Claude Duthuit, the grandson of Henri Matisse; and an illustrated chronology of Claribel and Etta Cone by Melissa Klein, Leon Levy Curatorial Assistant at The Jewish Museum. The catalogue will be available worldwide and at the Museum's Cooper Shop for $20.00.

Audio Guide
Produced by The Jewish Museum in association with Acoustiguide, a random access audio guide has been created for the exhibition. The audio guide includes commentary by Jewish Museum curator Karen Levitov, along with two experts with personal connections to the Cone sisters: Nancy Ramage, Professor of the Humanities and Arts Emerita at Ithaca College and the great-grand-niece of Etta Cone, and Claude Duthuit, Matisse's grandson. Available for $5, the audio guide is made possible by Bloomberg.

Sponsorship
The exhibition is sponsored by Deutsche Bank.

Major support is provided by the Emanuel and Riane Gruss Charitable Foundation; The David Berg Foundation; and the Leon Levy Foundation.

We gratefully acknowledge the following for their generosity: an anonymous donor in memory of Curtis Hereld; DLA Piper; EisnerAmper LLP; The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation; Rothschild Inc.; The Skirball Foundation; The Edward T. Cone Foundation; Shari and Jeff Aronson; W.P. Carey; The Charlesmead Foundation; Frank Crystal & Company; The Gottesman Fund; Guardsmark LLC; Traci and Mark Lerner; The Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds; Offit Capital Advisors LLC; and other donors.

The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Exhibition Fund and the Alfred J. Grunebaum Memorial Fund also provided important support.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

WNET New York Public Media is media sponsor.

About The Jewish Museum
Widely admired for its exhibitions and educational programs that inspire people of all backgrounds, The Jewish Museum is the preeminent United States institution exploring the intersection of 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture.

General Information
Museum hours are Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, 11am to 5:45pm; Thursday, 11am to 8pm; and Friday, 11am to 4pm. Admission is $12.00 for adults, $10.00 for senior citizens, $7.50 for students, free for children under 12 and Jewish Museum members. Admission is free on Saturdays. For further general information, the public may call 212.423.3200 or visit http://www.thejewishmuseum.org. The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, Manhattan.