a biography of the day-lillie plummer blisss (art collector, patron)
Lillie P. Bliss
Born April 11, 1864
Boston
Died March 12, 1931 (aged 66)
New York City
Nationality American
Known for • Art collector and patron
• Museum of Modern Art
• Lillie P. Bliss Bequest
• Lillie P. Bliss International Study Center
Lillie P. Bliss (born Lizzie Plummer Bliss, April 11, 1864 in Boston; died March 12, 1931 in New York City) was an American art collector and patron. At the beginning of the 20th century, she was one of the leading collectors of modern art in New York. Being one of the lenders of the landmark Armory Show in 1913, she also contributed to other exhibitions raising public attention and awareness of modern art. In 1929 she played an essential role in the founding of the Museum of Modern Art. After her death, 150 works of art from her collection served as a foundation to the museum and formed the basis of the in-house collection. These included works by artists such as Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani.
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At receptions at the home of her parents, artistically inclined Lillie P. Bliss met actors like Walter Hampden, Ruth Draper and Ethel Barrymore. In her youth, her main artistic interests were of both classical and contemporary music. At the beginning of the 20th century, she began to promote financially young pianists and opera singers. She also supported the string quartet led by Franz Kneisel (1885–1917) (Kneisel Quartet) and promoted the Juilliard Foundation devoted to musical training. Among her friends were the music critic Richard Aldrich and the musician Charles Martin Loeffler.
One of the earliest encounters with modern art were exhibition visits at the Union League Club of New York. Her father was a member of this club and president from 1902 to 1906. The club exhibited regularly works of living artists at public exhibitions. For example, 34 works by Claude Monet were shown there in 1891. After her father's death in 1911, Bliss, who never married, lived with her mother in an apartment on 37th Street in Manhattan.
One of her earliest purchases of art works was a painting by American painter Arthur B. Davies. She met the artist in his studio and visited art exhibitions with him and the art teacher Mary Quinn Sullivan. In subsequent years, Bliss built the largest private collection of works by Davies in the United States.
Her friend, physician Christian Archibald Herter, accompanied her piano playing occasionally as a recreational cellist. Through him she met his sister-in-law, the painter Adele Herter who founded the Women's Cosmopolitan Club in New York City together with Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and five other women in March 1911. Lillie P. Bliss joined this union a few months later. She became a lifelong friend of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. Their common interests later led to the founding of the Museum of Modern Art. In the same year, the Association of American Painters and Sculptors was constituted; among its co-founders were Arthur B. Davies, the artist Walt Kuhn and the critic Walter Pach. Over the years, Bliss acquired numerous paintings by Kuhn and all three played a significant role in the preparation of the Armory Show in 1913, whose aim was to bring the latest trends in art before the American public. Other venues, such as the conservative dominated National Academy of Design, at this time refused to support current artistic trends.[1]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillie_P._Bliss
