Adele Lewisohn Lehman

Adele Lewisohn Lehman (May 17, 1882 – August 11, 1965) was an American philanthropist and member of the Lehman family.

Biography Adele Lewisohn Lehman was born to a Jewish family on May 17, 1882, in New York City, the daughter of Emma (née Cahn) and Adolph Lewisohn.

Her father and his brothers (Julius and Leonard) were known as "copper kings" after making their fortune opening copper mines to fuel demand for copper wire with the advent of electricity; her father was also a leader in prison reform.

Philanthropy Coming from wealth and marrying into wealth, Lehman was a prominent philanthropist. Although Lehman was an honorary chairperson for the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies (founded by her husband Arthur Lehman), most of her philanthropic efforts were secular. the Purple Box, an outlet for the sale of goods made by disabled women; served as director of the Adoption Bureau; was a board member of the New York Board of Charities; a member of the Crusade for Children (part of the Child Welfare League of America); served as vice president of the League of Women Voters until 1945; and served on the board of directors for the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York (elected 1947); and was a board member of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society. Their collection consisted of Italian primitives, and works by Henry Raeburn, Jean Baptiste Greuze, Francesco Guardi, Corneille de Lyon, Claude Lorrain, Gustave Courbet, Jan van Goyen, Aert van der Neer, Aelbert Cuyp, Jacob Isaacksz van Ruisdael, and Thomas Lawrence. After the death of her husband, she continued to expand her collection purchasing works by Van Gogh, Rousseau, Paul Gauguin, Renoir, Eugène Boudin, Odilon Redon, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Édouard Vuillard, Matisse, Derain, Whistler, Childe Hassam, and Degas. Upon her death, she left much of her collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fogg Museum.