Today is Florine Stettheimer’s day of birth.

Florine Stettheimer (1871–1944), American modernist painter, designer and poet; credited as the artist who painted the first feminist nude self-portrait; in the 1930s, she hosted a salon with her sisters that attracted members of the avant-garde in Manhattan, and where she exhibited her work. Stettheimer created the stage designs and costumes for Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson’s avant-garde opera, Four Saints in Three Acts. She is best known for her four monumental works illustrating what she considered to be New York City’s “Cathedrals”: Broadway, Wall Street, Fifth Avenue, and New York’s three major art museums.

To read Florine Stettheimer’s poem “Occasionally” click