Arthur Jerome Eddy

Born in 1859, Arthur Jerome Eddy built a successful career as a Chicago corporate lawyer and also wrote books on business and law. But he is most often remembered for something less expected: his curiosity as a collector and writer on art.

Eddy was one of the first American collectors to buy daring modern work, including paintings by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Marcel Duchamp, and Francis Picabia. He also wrote Cubists and Post-Impressionism, an early American book that argued seriously for these new movements when many viewers still found them confusing or shocking.

He died in 1920, leaving behind a reputation as an adventurous collector with broad tastes. Today, he stands out as an important early supporter of modern art in America, someone who helped open the door for artists and ideas that would later reshape twentieth-century culture.