Cone, Claribel

Cone, Claribel art collectors; both born in Jonesboro, Tenn. Their family moved to Baltimore (c. 1870), and their brothers founded the Cone Mills, a textile business. The sisters studied locally, and Claribel attended the Woman's Medical College of Baltimore, Md., then worked in the pathology laboratory of the newly founded Johns Hopkins Medical School (1894–1903). Together the sisters established an artistic salon and began collecting antiques, textiles, and modern paintings. They were friends of Gertrude and Leo Stein, who briefly lived in Baltimore (1891), and the sisters became frequent guests of the Steins in France. The sisters amassed an impressive collection of modern and contemporary French art during their trips abroad. After both sisters died, funds and their collection were bequeathed to the Baltimore Museum of Art.