Cora Cohen
Encyclopedia
Cora Cohen is an American
Abstract
Painter
. Cohen lives and works in Long Island City, New York. Her works are in many major public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Swedish State Art Council, The Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch Collection, Berlin, The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, and Yale University
, New Haven.
. She attended the High School of Music and Art (1957–60) and Bennington College
(1960–64), where she studied with Paul Feeley
and Lawrence Alloway
. At Bennington she was influenced by the work of Frederick Kiesler, a guest lecturer and exhibitor, and Tony Smith
, who taught there. Cohen was Artist in Residence in Painting at the University of Pennsylvania
from 1969-70. She then returned to Bennington College as a graduate student (1970–1972) where she studied with Richard Haas
and met sound artist Liz Phillips
who introduced her to new music, in particular that of Pauline Oliveros
and Steve Reich
. In this work Cohen found reinforcement for using traditional art materials to create decompositional abstractions.
Cohen’s first solo exhibition at The Everson Museum of Art
t in 1974 was initiated by James Harithas. She began exhibiting regularly in New York at the Max Hutchinson Gallery in 1976. Her 1984 exhibition at that gallery garnered critical attention. In The New York Times
art critic
Michael Brenson wrote, "The works are dense, brooding and yet elated. The turbulence of the paint not only looks but also feels like freedom." Cohen exhibited widely from the late eighties onward, in New York at the Holly Solomon Gallery and Wolff Gallery. In the early nineties she began exhibiting in Europe. From 1993 to 2007 she was represented by Jason McCoy Inc., New York. She continues to exhibit throughout the United States and Europe.
Cohen has been a Yaddo Foundation Fellow and the recipient of awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
, the NEA
, the New York State Council for the Arts, the Gottlieb Foundation Award, the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Space Program, and recently, the Edward F. Albee Foundation.
, Jean Fautrier
, Yves Klein
) and the antecedent surrealist automatism of Andre Masson became more pronounced in Cohen’s work during the time she lived in Cologne
in the nineties. Her work retained those allegiances. Her paintings are characterized by improvisatory and gestural procedures, “originary effacements … negations of nothing” (as described by Barry Schwabsky in “One Art”) simple, abstract forms; and asymmetrically arranged, but serene, compositions.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
Painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. Cohen lives and works in Long Island City, New York. Her works are in many major public collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Swedish State Art Council, The Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch Collection, Berlin, The Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, New Haven.
Biography
Cora Cohen was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She attended the High School of Music and Art (1957–60) and Bennington College
Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
(1960–64), where she studied with Paul Feeley
Paul Feeley
Paul Feeley was an artist and director of the Art Department at Bennington College during the 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:...
and Lawrence Alloway
Lawrence Alloway
Lawrence Alloway was an English art critic and curator who worked in the United States from the 1960s. In the 1950s he was a leading member of the Independent Group in the UK and in the 1960s was an influential writer and curator in the US...
. At Bennington she was influenced by the work of Frederick Kiesler, a guest lecturer and exhibitor, and Tony Smith
Tony Smith (sculptor)
Tony Smith was an American sculptor, visual artist, architectural designer, and a noted theorist on art. He is often cited as a pioneering figure in American Minimalist sculpture.-Education:...
, who taught there. Cohen was Artist in Residence in Painting at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
from 1969-70. She then returned to Bennington College as a graduate student (1970–1972) where she studied with Richard Haas
Richard Haas
Richard John Haas is an American muralist who is best known for architectural murals and his use of the Trompe l'oeil style.-Works:...
and met sound artist Liz Phillips
Liz Phillips
Liz Phillips is an American artist specializing in sound art and interactive art. She was one of the first artists to make interactive sound sculpture. Her installations create sounds in relation to live forms. Phillips has exhibited her work at numerous art museums, alternative spaces, festivals,...
who introduced her to new music, in particular that of Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....
and Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
. In this work Cohen found reinforcement for using traditional art materials to create decompositional abstractions.
Cohen’s first solo exhibition at The Everson Museum of Art
Everson Museum of Art
The Everson Museum of Art in Downtown Syracuse, New York is a major Central New York museum focusing on American art.-History:The museum was founded in 1897 by art historian George Fisk Comfort ; at that time, it was called the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts...
t in 1974 was initiated by James Harithas. She began exhibiting regularly in New York at the Max Hutchinson Gallery in 1976. Her 1984 exhibition at that gallery garnered critical attention. In The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
art critic
Art critic
An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...
Michael Brenson wrote, "The works are dense, brooding and yet elated. The turbulence of the paint not only looks but also feels like freedom." Cohen exhibited widely from the late eighties onward, in New York at the Holly Solomon Gallery and Wolff Gallery. In the early nineties she began exhibiting in Europe. From 1993 to 2007 she was represented by Jason McCoy Inc., New York. She continues to exhibit throughout the United States and Europe.
Cohen has been a Yaddo Foundation Fellow and the recipient of awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Pollock-Krasner Foundation
The Pollock-Krasner Foundation was established in 1985 for the purpose of providing financial assistance to individual working artists of established ability. It was established at the bequest of Lee Krasner, who was an American abstract expressionist painter and the widow of fellow painter Jackson...
, the NEA
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, the New York State Council for the Arts, the Gottlieb Foundation Award, the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Space Program, and recently, the Edward F. Albee Foundation.
Works
The relationships and affinities of her paintings with European Art informel (WolsWols
Wols was the pseudonym of Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze , a German painter and photographer predominantly active in France....
, Jean Fautrier
Jean Fautrier
Jean Fautrier was a French painter and sculptor. He was one of the most important practitioners of Tachisme.He was born in Paris. Given his unwed mother's surname, he was raised by his grandmother until her death in 1908, when he went to live with his mother in London.In 1912 he studied at the...
, Yves Klein
Yves Klein
Yves Klein was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany...
) and the antecedent surrealist automatism of Andre Masson became more pronounced in Cohen’s work during the time she lived in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
in the nineties. Her work retained those allegiances. Her paintings are characterized by improvisatory and gestural procedures, “originary effacements … negations of nothing” (as described by Barry Schwabsky in “One Art”) simple, abstract forms; and asymmetrically arranged, but serene, compositions.
External links
- Cora Cohen's official website
- Waltemath, Joan, Cora Cohen: Michael Steinberg Gallery, The Brooklyn Rail, November 2008
- Riley, Jennifer, Cora Cohen: Come in a Little Closer at Michael Steinberg, artcritical.com, October 2008
- Brenson, Michael, Cora Cohen at Max Hutchinson, The New York Times, March 1984
- Maine, Stephen, Cora Cohen at Jason McCoy, Art in America, February 2005
- Buhmann, Stephanie, Cora Cohen at Jason McCoy, The Brooklyn Rail, November 2004