Born in 1882 in Villanova, Pennsylvania into a prominent banking family of Swiss descent, Albert Eugene Gallatin inherited a family fortune upon his father's death in 1902. His great-grandfather Albert Gallatin (1761-1849) had served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Jefferson and Madison before founding the New-York Historical Society and New York University.

A. E. Gallatin moved to Park Avenue in New York and became one of the most eligible bachelors in Manhattan. He also became a passionate and knowledgeable collector and patron of modernist art after World War I. "His collection brought together paintings by American modernists including Charles Demuth, Charles Sheeler, and John Marin, and works...