Mary Quinn Sullivan (November 24, 1877 – December 5, 1939), born Mary Josephine Quinn, was a pioneering collector of European and American modern and contemporary art and gallerist, and a founding trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, which opened in rented space in New York City in November 1929.
Mary and Cornelius J. Sullivan, her husband, amassed a significant private collection of art during the 1920s and 1930s that included Modigliani's Sculptured Head of a Woman, Paul Cézanne's Madame Cézanne, Georges Rouault's Crucifixion, and a Hepplewhite desk that once belonged to Edgar Degas, as well as works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, and others.
The Indiana native trained for a career as an artist at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and in 1909 she studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, England, for a semester.
However, she resigned from teaching and returned to Europe to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, England, during the fall term of 1909.
Upon her return to New York in 1910, Quinn accepted a faculty position at Pratt Institute as an instructor of drawing and design at its School of Household Sciences and Arts.
The Sullivans established a home in the Hell's Gate area of Astoria, Queens, where they entertained artists, writers, and politicians.
[citation needed] Cornelius Sullivan, who specialized in managing large trusts and divorce proceedings for the wealthy, was a member of the New York Board of Education.
"[citation needed] Mary and Cornelius Sullivan made frequent trips to Europe and visited galleries in New York to amass their private collection of European and American art.
Over the years the Sullivans' collection expanded to include American and Irish antiques, as well as modern art such as Modigliani's Sculptured Head of a Woman (acquired from Leopold Zborowski), Paul Cézanne's Madame Cézanne, a Hepplewhite desk which once belonged to Edgar Degas, Georges Rouault's Crucifixion,[5] Vincent van Gogh's Mlle.
In addition, Sullivan supported causes such as the Handwork Centre at 511 Madison Avenue that sold toys made by the elderly, infirm, and unemployed.
As the leader of the group, Sullivan began choosing works of art in 1928 on their behalf in New York City and during her frequent travels to Europe.
[6][7] The group's best-known purchase was a Toulouse-Lautrec color lithograph, Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, which the Herron Art Institute received in 1936.
[8] During summer of 1928, Sullivan also helped the Herron Art Institute organize two exhibitions of modern paintings from French and American artists.
Mary Sullivan chaired several of the museum's committees before her resignation and retirement from the board of trustees on October 17, 1933, due to financial difficulties.
[6] The gallery hosted exhibitions of Chaïm Soutine's work, among others, and employed a young Betty Parsons, who acknowledged that Sullivan's business sense and taste made an enduring impression on her.
In December 1939, Sullivan, who was ill by that time, consigned 202 additional pieces from their collection for sale at a two-day auction at Parke-Bernet, which later became affiliated with Sotheby's.