Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton: “For the Glory of Buffalo!”

In 1909, the sudden passing of the Albright Art Gallery’s first director, Charles M. Kurtz, left the museum with a decision to make. In a unanimous vote the following fall, the Board elected Cornelia Bentley Sage Quinton (American, 1876 or 1880–1936) to fill the role. A painter, administrator, promoter of the arts, and native of Buffalo, New York, Sage Quinton became the Albright’s second-ever director since opening its doors in 1905. More significantly, by taking the role she became the first woman director of a municipal nonprofit museum in the United States.

As director, Sage Quinton organized pioneering exhibitions, including the 1910 International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography, the first photographic exhibition in the United States; An Exhibition of Works by Buffalo Artists, known as the First Local Salon in 1914; and the 1916 Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, which featured more than 800 artworks, represented 168 American artists, and was the first time a museum dedicated its entire interior and exterior space to sculpture.

Sage Quinton worked tirelessly to form lasting relationships with contemporary artists, curating solo exhibitions of American painters George Bellows (1882–1925), Childe Hassam (1859–1935), Robert Henri (1865–1929), George Inness (1825–1894), and John Henry Twachtman (1853–1902). Sage Quinton wrote to artists as if they were old friends, updating them about her personal life and the museum, offering support and advice, and finding ways to collaborate. In her letters, she would often exclaim “for the glory of Buffalo”—a refrain that marked her enthusiasm for exhibitions and projects and for the museum and the community of Buffalo.

Sage Quinton eventually left the museum. A longtime proponent of French art in the United States, she was appointed director of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco in 1924. By the time she left, however, her approach had helped establish the artist-centric philosophy that came to define the museum, and her dedication and work ethic remain an inspiration.

Organized by Gabrielle Carlo, Archivist, Buffalo AKG Art Museum

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