Dreier, Katherine Sophie (1877–1952)

American artist, suffragist, and social activist. Name variations: frequently misspelled as Drier. Born Sept 10, 1877, in Brooklyn, New York; died Mar 29, 1952, in Milford, Connecticut; dau. of Dorothea Adelheid Dreier and her cousin Theodor Dreier (iron merchant); sister of Mary Elisabeth Dreier and Margaret Dreier Robins; attended Brooklyn Art Students League, 1895–97, Pratt Institute, 1900–01; m. Edward Trumball-Smith, Aug 1911 (annulled 1911); no children.

Served as treasurer, German Home for Recreation for Women and Children (1900–09); sold her 1st art piece, an altar painting for the chapel of St. Paul's school in Garden City, NY; was co-founder and president, the Little Italy Neighborhood Association, Brooklyn (1905); served as a delegate, Sixth Convention of the International Woman's Suffrage Alliance (1911); had 1st exhibit, London (1911); exhibited at the NY Armory Show (1913), the 1st mass showing of modern art on American soil; founded the Cooperative Mural Workshop (1914); chaired the German-American Committee, NYC's Woman's Suffrage Party (1915); was a co-founder of the Society of Independent Artists (1916); with Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, co-founded Societe Anonyme (1920); held retrospective show, New York Academy of Allied Arts (1933); was instrumental in bringing modern art to America. Published numerous articles and books, including Five Months in the Argentine: From a Woman's Point of View, 1918 to 1919 (1920), Western Art and the New Era (1923), and Shawn the Dancer (1933).

See also Women in World History.