Gloria Vanderbilt Figurative Paintings

Gloria Vanderbilt (1924 - 2019) Girls in White, 2005 Acrylic on panel 12 x 12 inches Initialed "GV" lower left; titled and dated on the reverse A member of the affluent and influential Vanderbilt family, Gloria Vanderbilt was born into wealth on February 20, 1924, in New York City. Her father, Reginald Vanderbilt, was the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, the creator of a railroad empire and one of America's first millionaires. Her mother, Gloria Morgan, was a young woman who loved parties more than parenthood. Gloria lost her father to liver disease when she was a toddler. She received a multimillion-dollar trust fund upon her father's death. For several years after her father's death, Gloria lived abroad with her mother and was often in the care of her maternal grandmother and her nurse Dodo. When she was 10 years old, Gloria Vanderbilt made headlines as the central figure in a bitter and very public custody battle. Her aunt Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney successfully fought her mother for Gloria. The court decided that Gloria could spend the summers with her mother, and that Dodo, Gloria's most beloved companion, would have to be let go. In her teens, Vanderbilt emerged as a popular young socialite with her own distinct style. She even appeared in Harper's Bazaar magazine in 1939. A while later, Vanderbilt headed out to Hollywood where her mother was already well ensconced in popular social circles. Gloria started dating much older men, including Errol Flynn and Howard Hughes. In 1941, she married Hollywood agent Pat De Cicco—she was only seventeen at the time. It proved to be an unhappy union, and Vanderbilt divorced her husband in 1945. Even before the divorce, she had found love again with Leopold Stokowski, a famous conductor. Vanderbilt and Stokowski married shortly after her divorce was complete. They had two sons together, Stanley and Christopher. Around this time, Vanderbilt also discovered her passion for art and studied at the Art Students League* of New York. She explored an interest in acting as well, studying with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Gloria Vanderbilt appeared on Broadway in the short-lived revival of William Saroyan...