On this third lecture of our series of art talks about American Women Collectors, we will discuss the lives of Arabella Huntington & Lillie P. Bliss.

Arabella Huntington, a Richmond native was by 1900 one of the richest and most mysterious women in the world. She contributed in the foundation of San Marino’s Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Botanical Gardens, nowadays considered one of the great Gilded Age mansions of America.

Lillie P. Bliss was born in Boston and became a highly influential collector of modern art in the early years of the 20th century. She was part of the group of women behind the creation of the MoMA. It is mainly thanks to her bequest that the museum was able to start its permanent collection.