Hilles, Susan Morse, 1905-2002

Susan (Morse) Hilles, art collector and philanthropist, was born in Simsbury, Conn., on July 4, 1905, the daughter of Susan Ensign and Rev. William Inglis Morse. After study at the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1924-1925) and the Sacker School of Design (1926-1929), she married Frederick Whiley Hilles, who became a professor of English at Yale University. They had two children. In the 1950s she began to collect the work of post-war, mostly American, artists, including Helen Frankenthaler, David Smith, and Willem de Kooning. Paintings and sculpture from her art collection have been frequently exhibited at, loaned or given to museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, Boston, Yale Art Gallery, Wadsworth Atheneum, Boston Athenaeum, and Fogg Museum. Hilles has been a major supporter of education, libraries, music, medicine, and the arts; among her gifts is the Hilles Library at Radcliffe College.

From the description of Papers, 1839-1995 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122611710