Max Arthur Cohn

Max Arthur Cohn Gloucester 1978-10, 1978
Gloucester 1978-10, 1978

Max Arthur Cohn (born 1903 – died March 25, 1998) is a talented 20th century American silk-screen artist. Max Arthur Cohn lived a long life and painted thousands of works of art. Today, his paintings adorn the halls of dozens of famous museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, museums in Dallas, Sydney, London and Tel Aviv. His style changed throughout his life – from realism to abstraction and again to realism, always in the silk-screen technique.

Max Arthur Cohn Trio 1982-G7, 1982
Trio 1982-G7, 1982

Biography of Max Arthur Cohn

Max Arthur Cohn was born in London in 1903. Little is known about his family, practically nothing – his parents were immigrants from Russia, after the birth of the child, the family lived in London for only two years, and already in 1905 found itself in the United States. Here the author spent his entire life, periodically moving from city to city, but for the longest time, about 25 years, he lived in New York.

Max Arthur Cohn became acquainted with the art world in 1920 when he took his first job at a silk screen printing studio. It was probably then that he decided on his basic technique.

McGraw Hill Building 1990-G2 , 1990
Hill Building 1990-G2 , 1990

He not only became interested in painting, but decided to devote his whole life to it. In 1925-1927 he studied at the League of Students-Artists of New York, from the walls of which many outstanding masters came out in various fields of creativity. Max Cohn’s instructors included Boardman Robinson, a Canadian-American illustrator, muralist and cartoonist, and impressionist painter John Sloan. In 1929, the graduate went to the capital of France, to a private art school – Accademia Colarossi, to continue his studies.

During his long life, the artist has held dozens of personal exhibitions.

The first took place in 1929 at the New York Civic Club, the last in 1989 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art History Gallery. In 1934, Max Cohn was selected as one of the young talents funded under the Public Works in the Arts Cultural Program. In 1940, he co-founded the National Society of Serigraphs with Anthony Velonis, and in 1942 co-authored the book Silk Screen Printing as a Fine Art, expanded to the 1956 Silkscreen Technique. He worked hard, improved his skill, learned new things and deservedly received recognition from critics and spectators.

Railroad Bridge ”, date unknown
Railroad Bridge, date unknown

Interestingly, in the 1950s, when the master was working in a graphic arts studio in New York, one of his clients was a young man named Andy Warhol. It was then that the future leader of pop art became interested in silk-screen printing.

Max Arthur Cohn died in New York on March 25, 1998.

Trio 1993-G21 , 1993
Trio 1993-G21 , 1993

The most famous paintings by Max Arthur Cohn

Max Arthur Cohn’s paintings are images of cities, factories, workers in their daily affairs. The artist lived for 95 years and was very hardworking, worked until his last days, and although his works are still little known in Russia and the CIS countries, they definitely deserve attention:

  1. Gloucester 1978-10 (1978) – smooth water, tranquility, serenity and moored boats, whose contours are slightly muted by the morning haze.
  2. “Trio 1982-G7” (1982) – over the long years of creativity, the master repeatedly returned to abstraction, and after – again worked in the genre of realism.
  3. McGraw Hill Building 1990-G2 (1990) is one of the many industrial landscapes that showcase the dense urban sprawl of modern American cities.
  4. Trio 1993-G21 (1993) – street musicians, a popular theme for the author’s works. Railroad Bridge (date unknown) – The clear image of the bridge stands out sharply against the background of numerous abstractions.
Like this post? Please share to your friends:
Culturical