Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Hirshhorn, Olga print view role Collector Patron dates 1920-2015 city Greenwich state CT other cities Washington, DC; Martha's Vineyard, MD; Naples, FL; sex F historical notes Olga C. Hirshhorn (1920-2015), an art collector, was instrumental in founding the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She was born Olga Zatorsky and was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She attended New York University and, from 1939 to 1962, was married to John Cunningham. She established several businesses, including a daycare center and a business services firm, Services Unlimited. In 1964, she married financier and art collector Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1900-1981), also a resident of Greenwich. She assisted her husband with his career and art avocation and began her collection of modern art. The Hirshhorns were crucial figures in the art world and formed lasting friendships with many artists. In 1966, at the urging of Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley, Joseph Hirshhorn donated his modern art collection to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1974, it opened as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. In 1995, Olga Hirshhorn donated more than 600 works, not to the museum that donned her name, but to the Corcoran Gallery of Art. decades of activity 1960-1970 1970-1980 1980-1990 1990-2000 2000-2010 updated 02/14/2025 10:12:23 bibliographic search Search Frick Art Reference Library Catalog Search Photoarchive Search Worldcat Search Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) Search Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) Search Wikidata Entry Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200 Oral history interviews with Olga C. Hirshhorn, 1986-1988. see details... Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library Smithsonian Institution Other Papers and Miscellaneous Manuscript Collections see details... The Museum of Modern Art Library and Archives Artist file: Hirshhorn, Olga; miscellaneous uncataloged material. see details... Smithsonian Institution Archives Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507 Hirshhorn Papers Project, 1990-1994. see details... Archives of American Art Victor Building, Suite 2200 Adeline Herder Papers, 1942-1999. see details... Smithsonian Institution Archives Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507 Oral history interviews with Olga C. Hirshhorn, 1986-1988. see details... see also: Hirshhorn, Joseph H. «  back