Cone Sisters - Social Status

Social Status

Their particular social contacts produced an advantage from which they could compile a world renowned art collection. The Cone sisters compiled a large collection of paintings and sculptures by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Paul Cézanne. The Cone sisters never married; this was the case for about ten percent of women during this time period. Customary to their rank in society, they traveled extensively in the company of other women. Claribel's pursuit of a medical degree was considered unlady-like in her social sphere. The Cone sisters' use of the family’s prosperity to collect fine artwork was unparalleled among other women. They were known as eccentrics and had a comical presence clad in their long Victorian dresses. When they went to the opera in Paris, they would buy an extra seat to hold their day's purchases.

Although Gertrude Stein tried to belittle the Cone sisters as mere "shoppers" guided by her taste, in fact the sisters had strong tastes guided by the enormous collection of books on art which they purchased and studied. Their purchases were displayed on the walls of their Marlborough apartments in Baltimore. The sisters' nephew once commented on this display, The pictures covered every available inch of wall space, even in the bathrooms. While the collection remained private until Etta's death, Etta occasionally lent pieces to museums to exhibit. Claribel had willed her paintings to Etta, stipulating that these pieces should eventually be given to the Baltimore Museum of Art if the spirit of appreciation of modern art in Baltimore should improve. To that museum the bulk of the collection eventually went.