Leo Stein (May 11, 1872 – July 29, 1947) was an American art collector and critic. He was born in
Allegheny City
Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by ...
(now in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
), the older brother of
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the Allegheny West neighborhood and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris ...
. He became an influential promoter of 20th-century paintings.
Education and career
Beginning in 1892, he studied at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, for two years. The following year, he traveled the world with his cousin, Fred. In 1897, he transferred to
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, where he graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in 1898.
Stein spent a number of years living in Paris with his sister. In 1914, the two separated due to Leo's resentment of Gertrude's infatuation with
Alice B. Toklas, whom he described as "a kind of abnormal vampire". Stein returned to America to work as a journalist but eventually settled near
Florence, Italy
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
, with his long-time love interest, Nina Auzias. They eventually married in 1921.
James R. Mellow, ''Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein and Company'' Retrieved November 27, 2008
/ref>
Stein died of cancer in 1947 in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
. Auzias committed suicide two years later.
Publications
*Stein, Leo
''Appreciation: Painting, Poetry, and Prose''
1947. Reprint. University of Nebraska Press, 1996.
*Stein, Leo. ''The A-B-C of Aesthetics''. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1927.
*Stein, Leo. "Pablo Picasso." ''The New Republic'' (April 23, 1924): p. 229-230.
References
Sources
* Wineapple, Brenda. ''Sister Brother: Gertrude and Leo Stein''. London: Putnam, 1996.
*''Four Americans in Paris: The Collections of Gertrude Stein and Her Family''. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1970.
Barnet, Andrea, "The Moderns". ''The New York Times''. June 2, 1996.
Retrieved July 22, 2012.
External links
* Leo Stein Collection. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
1872 births
1947 deaths
Gertrude Stein
American art patrons
American emigrants to Italy
American people of German-Jewish descent
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