Katherine Sophie Dreier

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Katherine Dreier. Abstract Portrait of Marcel Duchamp. 1918. Oil on canvas. New York: Museum of Modern Art.
Katherine Dreier. Abstract Portrait of Marcel Duchamp. 1918. Oil on canvas. New York: Museum of Modern Art.

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 the Abstraction-Création group.

[edit] Birth

She was born in Brooklyn, New York to Dorothea Adelheid and Theodor Dreier. Dorothea and Theodor had emigrated from Bremen, Germany. Katherine was the youngest of their five children, her older sister was the painter Dorothea Dreier.

[edit] 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 the Pratt Institute, and then studied with Walter 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 the Society of Independent Artists, she met Marcel Duchamp. In January of 1920, Dreier, Duchamp, and Man Ray founded the Société Anonyme in Dreier's Manhattan apartment. Dreier was also friend and patron to the German multimedia artist Kurt 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 contacted Yale University about managing the museum, and Yale suggested that the collection be merged with the Yale University Art Gallery. She sent the Societe Anonyme's collection to New Haven, Connecticut in October of 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 of 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.

[edit] References