Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton, Director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1876-1936
Biography
Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton was the first director of the Legion of Honor and the only female director in its history. She was appointed to open operations of the museum in 1924 and stayed on until 1930. Quinton was born on October 3, 1876 in Buffalo, New York. She attended the Art Students League in both Buffalo and New York City, and the École du Louvre in Paris, France. Sage married William Warren Quinton on Oct 31, 1917.
Quinton began working at the Albright Art Museum in May 1905. She became director of the museum in 1910 after the sudden death of Charles M. Kurtz. Her appointment made her the first female director of a major art museum in the United States. During her tenure, she organized noteworthy exhibitions at Albright Art Museum such as the International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography in 1910, which was the first photography exhibition held at an American museum, as well as the Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture in 1916. In 1920 Quinton received Cross of the Legion of Honor from France for her work promoting French art during WWI.
Quinton left the Albright Art Museum in 1924 to become the director of California Palace of the Legion of Honor, where she stayed until 1930. She died on May 16, 1936 in Santa Barbara, California.
Source: Wikipedia contributors, "Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cornelia_Bentley_Sage_Quinton&oldid=1082728666 (accessed June 9, 2022).