Halpert, Edith Gregor (1900–1970)

Russian-born US art dealer and collector. She worked in banking, and as a reorganizer of department stores before opening the Downtown Gallery of Contemporary Art with her husband, Samuel Halpert, in 1926. The gallery became one of the earliest supporters of modern American artists. Halpert later expanded her own space to include the American Folk Art Gallery (1929), and assembled collections at the Williamsburg (Virginia) and Shelburne (Vermont) museums. She also sponsored exhibitions of unknown as well as well-known artists. She was born Edith Fivoosiovitch in Odessa, Russia, and emigrated to New York City with her mother in 1906. There she attended the National Academy of Design (1914–15).