Curatorial Entry:

Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn

Born in 1856 in Fremont, Illinois, Annie Swan Coburn moved to Chicago with her family by 1871 and lived in the city until her death in May 1932.1 In 1880 she married Lewis Larned Coburn, a prominent patent attorney and one of the founders (and first president) of the Union League Club of Chicago. Upon his death in 1910, Mrs. Coburn began to collect art, initially purchasing American works and gradually expanding her collection to include French Impressionist paintings. Around the same time, she moved into an apartment in Chicago’s Blackstone Hotel. Though her wall space was limited in her new home, she continuously collected works of art, which she displayed in her own unique and intimate way (fig. .1, fig. .2, fig. .3, fig. .4, fig. .5, and fig. .6).2

From April 6 to October 9, 1932, the Art Institute of Chicago (under the auspices of its Antiquarian Society) held a special exhibition of over sixty paintings, watercolors, drawings, and pastels from Mrs. Coburn’s collection.3 Just two months after the opening of the exhibition—which included Édouard Manet’s Woman Reading (fig. .7), one of her last major acquisitions—Mrs. Coburn died, leaving the Art Institute over one hundred works of art. The Fogg Museum at Harvard University and Smith College also received a portion of her collection.

Impressionist Paintings given to the Art Institute of Chicago by Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn

CLAUDE MONET

  1. The Beach at Sainte-Adresse (cat. 13) (fig. .8)

  2. Cliff Walk at Pourville (cat. 18) (fig. .9)

  3. Stacks of Wheat (End of Day, Autumn) (cat. 27) (fig. .10)

  4. Water Lily Pond (cat. 36) (fig. .11)

  5. Venice, Palazzo Dario (cat. 44) (fig. .12)

  6. Vétheuil (cat. 41) (fig. .13)

  7. Champ de coquelicots (Poppy Field)4

  8. Citrons sur une branche (Lemons on a Branch)5

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Portrait de Léon Peltier6

Alfred Sisley (cat. 4) (fig. .14)

Young Woman Sewing (cat. 7) (fig. .15)

Two Sisters (On the Terrace) (cat. 11) (fig. .16)

L’Algérienne7

La Cueillette des fleurs8

Pivoines9
fig. .6

Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn (1856–1932) seated in her Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Displayed works include: 1. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Young Woman Sewing, 1879. Oil on canvas; 61.5 x 50.3 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.452. Art Institute of Chicago Archives.
fig. .1

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Displayed works include: 1. Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Water Lily Pond, 1900. Oil on canvas; 89.8 x 101 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.441. Art Institute of Chicago Archives.
fig. .2

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago.  Displayed works include: 1. Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). The Beach at Sainte-Adresse, 1876. Oil on canvas; 75.8 x 102.5 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.439. 2. Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Venice, Palazzo Dario, 1908. Oil on canvas; 64.8 x 78.8 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.446. 3. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). La Cueillette des fleurs. Formerly 1933.454 in the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection; deaccessioned in 1947. Art Institute of Chicago Archives.
fig. .3

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Displayed works include: 1. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Alfred Sisley, 1876. Oil on canvas; 66.4 x 54.8 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.453. 2. Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Cliff Walk at Pourville, 1882. Oil on canvas, 66.5 x 82.3 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.443. Art Institute of Chicago Archives.
fig. .4

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago Archives.
fig. .7

Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883). Woman Reading, 1879/80. Oil on canvas; 61.2 x 50.7 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.435.
fig. .5

Interior of Mrs. Lewis Larned (Annie Swan) Coburn’s Blackstone Hotel apartment in Chicago. Displayed works include: 1. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881. Oil on canvas; 100.5 x 81 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.455. 2. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Pivoines. Formerly 1933.456 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1942. 3. Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Église de Varengeville, temps gris (The Church at Varengeville, Gray Weather). Formerly 1933.442 in the Art Institute’s collection; deaccessioned in 1944. Art Institute of Chicago Archives.

 
fig. .10

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Stacks of Wheat (End of Day, Autumn), 1890/91. Oil on canvas; 65.8 x 101 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.444. 
fig. .11

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Water Lily Pond, 1900. Oil on canvas; 89.8 x 101 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.441.
fig. .12

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Venice, Palazzo Dario, 1908. Oil on canvas; 64.8 x 78.8 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.446.
fig. .13

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Vétheuil, 1901. Oil on canvas; 90.2 x 93.4 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.447.
fig. .8

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). The Beach at Sainte-Adresse, 1867. Oil on canvas; 75.8 x 102.5 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.439.
fig. .9

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Cliff Walk at Pourville, 1882. Oil on canvas; 66.5 x 82.3 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.443.

 
fig. .14

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Alfred Sisley, 1876.  Oil on canvas, mounted on composition board; 66.4 x 54.8 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.453.
fig. .15

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Young Woman Sewing, 1879. Oil on canvas; 61.5 x 50.3 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.452.
fig. .16

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841–1919). Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881. Oil on canvas; 100.5 x 81 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection, 1933.455.