Curator, Ann Temkin: I'm Ann Temkin, the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture here at MoMA.
MoMA was founded in 1929. It was the idea of three women: Abby Rockefeller, Lillie Bliss, and Mary Quinn Sullivan. But our collection got its real beginning with the pictures that Lillie Bliss gave to us.
Throughout this exhibition, you'll hear from me and the author Kate Walbert.
Writer, Kate Walbert: Lillie Bliss is an incredible mystery. She's a character from history, and yet she's also obscured by history. But she very much lives in the pictures.
Ann Temkin: As well as my co-curator, Romy Silver-Kohn.
Curator, Romy Silver-Kohn: Bliss's collection shaped how we think about modern art in America and in giving her gift, she really transformed The Museum of Modern Art.
Ann Temkin: You'll also hear archival audio from Bliss's friends and family, like Bliss’s niece, Elizabeth Parkinson Cobb.
Bliss’s Niece, Elizabeth Parkinson Cobb: She was a terribly interesting woman. She was always buying a new picture. All her money went into that. When she died, there were two dresses hanging in her closet.