Mary Quinn Sullivan - A Collection Dispersed

A Collection Dispersed

In 1932, Sullivan opened an art gallery on E. 56th St. in New York City which moved to a space in Lois Shaw's gallery on Park Avenue. Her gallery hosted exhibitions of Chaim Soutine's work amongst others. She employed a young Betty Parsons at this gallery, who acknowledged that Ms. Sullivan's business sense and taste made an enduring impression on her. Sullivan's husband died in 1932, and she sold a portion of his collection at Anderson Galleries in April 1937. In late 1939 Sullivan became ill and consigned further pieces from their collection for auction at Parke-Bernet (later Sotheby's). She died in Astoria, Queens, New York of complications from pleurisy and diabetes on the night before the two-night sale (December 6 – 7 1939), which was by all accounts one of the benchmark art auctions of the first half of the 20th c. She is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Indianapolis IN.