- Katherine Sophie Dreier
Infobox Artist
bgcolour = #6495ED
name = Katherine Sophie Dreier
imagesize = 300px
caption = "Abstract Portrait ofMarcel Duchamp ". 1918. Oil on canvas. New York:Museum of Modern Art
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birthdate = birth date |1877|9|10|
location =Brooklyn, New York
deathdate = death date and age |1952|3|29|1877|9|10|
deathplace =
nationality = American
field =Abstract art
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awards =Katherine Sophie Dreier (
September 10 ,1877 –March 29 ,1952 ) was an artist and a patron of the arts. Her paintings were abstract with spiritual emphasis, and she was a member of theAbstraction-Création group.Birth
She was born in
Brooklyn, New York to Dorothea Adelheid andTheodor Dreier . Dorothea and Theodor had emigrated fromBremen, Germany . Katherine was the youngest of their five children, her older sister was the painter Dorothea Dreier.Arts
She was treasurer of the German Home for Recreation of Women and Children and was one of the founding members of the Little Italy Neighborhood Association in
Brooklyn, New York . She studied at the Brooklyn Art School and at thePratt Institute , and then studied withWalter Shirlaw with her sister, Dorothea. Between 1907 and 1914, Katherine spent time abroad studying art, and exhibiting her work. In 1916 in New York City, while working for theSociety of Independent Artists , she metMarcel Duchamp . In January 1920, Dreier, Duchamp, andMan Ray founded the Société Anonyme in Dreier'sManhattan apartment. Dreier was also friend and patron to the German multimedia artistKurt Schwitters .Dreier planned to convert her house in West
Redding, Connecticut into a museum to house the Société Anonyme's collection of artwork, in addition to her private collection. She contactedYale University about managing the museum, and Yale suggested that the collection be merged with theYale University Art Gallery . She sent the Societe Anonyme's collection toNew Haven, Connecticut in October 1941. In 1942, she was still attempting to have her house in Redding, Connecticut become a museum for her private collection. Without any financial backing, she decided to sell the house.In April 1946, she moved to a new home in
Milford, Connecticut and continued to add artwork to the collection at Yale. In 1947, she attempted to reopen membership to the Societe Anonyme and printed a brochure, but Yale blocked distribution of the brochure because its name appeared on it. In 1948, Dreier and Duchamp created a catalog of the collection.References
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* [http://www.variant.randomstate.org/14texts/William_Clark.html "The Variant", Katherine Dreier and the Société Anonyme] by William Clark. (AccessedJune 14 2005 .)
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