The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone [Hardcover]

Mary Gabriel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 2002

Etta and Claribel Cone had an eye for art that was unparalleled at their time, and they left Baltimore what is perhaps the best gift the city has ever received: their collection.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Art history traditionally concerns itself with the lives and creative processes of artists. But here Gabriel (Notorious Victoria: The Rise and Fall of Victoria Woodhull) focuses on "the barely recognized link" between modernist masters such as C?zanne, Degas, Picasso and Matisse, and the largely forgotten art collectors Etta and Claribel Cone, wealthyAand stolidly VictorianABaltimore sisters who, starting around the turn of the century, devoted their lives to amassing one of the largest and most remarkable collections of modern art in the world. Although neither Claribel, a sternly imposing physician, nor her retiring and unassuming sibling, seemed likely patrons of modernism, Etta secured the lifelong friendship of Matisse and Picasso while they still languished in poverty and obscurity. Frequently among the first to "discover" the artists who made history, the Cones are nevertheless usually portrayed as provincial spinsters who relied on family friends Gertrude and Leo Stein for guidance. Gabriel ably demonstrates that conventional wisdom has robbed the Cone sisters of credit for their own lively and often iconoclastic aesthetic sensibilities. By inviting us to view early 20th-century painting through the Cones' eyes and by adeptly weaving the threads of their life stories into the larger fabric of the social and artistic history of their time, Gabriel complicates our understanding of the inner lives of these outwardly conventional women and of the relationship between art and its audience. Photos not seen by PW. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Heiresses to a family fortune, Etta and Claribel Cone, Jewish sisters from Baltimore, amassed a major collection of modern French artworks. Their Victorian demeanor and dress belied two free-spirited eccentrics whose bold purchases of avant-garde, sometimes erotic art shocked early 20th-century society. They bought what pleased them, jamming their Baltimore apartments with paintings by Matisse, Picasso, C?zanne, D?gas, Van Gogh, Manet, Redon, Pissarro, and others. Reuters reporter Gabriel (Notorious Victoria, LJ 11/15/97) has given life to these obscure sisters in a captivating biography that covers Gertrude Stein's influence, tireless European travels to artists' studios and galleries, and, most notably, the interdependence of collectors and artists. Sought after by leading museum directors, their collection, described in Brenda Richardson's Dr. Claribel and Miss Etta (1985), was bequeathed to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Highly recommended.AJoan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 282 pages
• Publisher: Bancroft Press; 1st edition (August 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890862061
• ISBN-13: 978-1890862060
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #257,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Art

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A work of art!, October 31, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone (Hardcover)

Pay no attention to the ho-hum title -- this is one delightful read. The book illuminates two sisters who had been virtually written out of art history. The author richly embroiders the travels of Claribel and Etta Cone and details how they came to amass one of the world's more comprehsive collections of 20th century art. This painstakingly and lovingly researched book is a masterpiece!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating women fascinating story, May 16, 2007

By 

maas8 "maas8" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone (Hardcover)

I happened upon this book quite by accident but was intrigued just from reading the book jacket and it did not disappoint. The story read like a novel yet it was meticulously researched. The Cone sisters were visionary collectors who supported Matisse, Picasso, Cezanne and others by purchasing their work when the rest of the snooty art world shunned it and tagged it obscene. These extraordinary women led unconventional lives, befriended artists and authors (Gertrude Stein among them) along the way and definitely marched to their own drums. And lucky for the Baltimore Art Museum that they did since their collection was estimated to be worth about $1 billion. No book has ever made me want to visit Baltimore before but I plan to go there to see the Cone Collection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cone Heads, April 18, 2008

By 

Christian Schlect (Yakima, Washington/USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Art of Acquiring: A Portrait of Etta and Claribel Cone (Hardcover)

Dr. Cone and her sister, Etta, amassed one of the best art collections in American history. How and when they did this is the tale contained in this nice effort by Mary Gabriel.

Those interested in European art as created in the early part of the last century, by such people as Picasso and above all Matisse, will be interested in buying this book, as well as those who just want a slice of cultural history of the period. (And if you have a keen interest in Gertrude Stein, you will also want to read this rewarding, yet stylistically simple, work.)

I have visited the Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art and urge all interested in great art to make the same pilgrimage.