My mother, Mary Cohen [29.xi.1910—31.x.1991], trained at the Slade School of Fine Art and painted in various media all her life until her failing eye-sight stopped her. Some of the paintings on the following pages are of known locations, but for others help with identification would be welcome. All images © The Estate of Mary Cohen, 2008-11  Mougins, 1949, the property of the Estate of Mlle Béatrice Méric (oil). Exhibited in London at Leicester Galleries Summer and New Year Exhibitions; Royal Academy; New English Art Club; Royal Society of British Artists; Rowland Browse and Delbanco; New Grafton Gallery and the Southover Gallery. Work in public and private collections in the UK, USA and Switzerland including The National Trust (Fenton House), H R H The Prince of Wales and others. Works painted in Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico and Iran. Subjects: interiors, figures in gardens, landscapes, townscapes, still lifes. Mostly signed Mary S C, but rarely dated. Not shown to scale. Go to MSC paintings 1 Studied in Florence [at the art school of Filippo Marfori Savini, 1877-1952] and at the Slade with Sir William Coldstream, Claude Rogers and others. 1932 July married Lieut-Commander Kenneth Cohen, RN. Honeymoon in the Dolomites and Italy - Castelrotto, Carrezza, Paraggi, Portofino. 1933 South Africa [Simonstown, HMS Dorsetshire].  Carol's nursery, ND. The du Maurier house is in the background, seen from Chestnut Lodge, Squire's Mount.(pen, watercolour) 1937 Carol born December 31st. 1938 Chestnut Lodge, Squire’s Mount Hampstead. January: ‘Painted [at] Daphne Charlton’. To Asphodel’s studio - Ruth Collet. March: Dieppe ‘draw market place from balcony of old inn with inside courtyard and stairway ... fishmarket’. June: Angmering beach huts. July: Brittany, Port Manech. Meets Dr Albert Barnes, who gives her his book Art in Painting and offers her a scholarship at Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. In car smash - ankle broken. Back to UK via St Malo. Painting in Euston Road Class, Tuesdays with Ruth Collet, and at Asphodel’s studio. December: K away Paris, and Geneva. 1939 Still painting Art school and at Daphne Charlton’s. April: K to Lausanne; ‘Painted Jo at Asphodel’s’. May: ‘Sketched in St James’s Park with Meg Morehead’. June: ‘With Asphodel to Tower Beach to paint’. September 5: War declared on Nazi Germany; ‘Painted Mother-Bess’. October 25: K leaves by air from Hendon. November 28: K telephones from Paris - in London 30th.  1940 No diary [shares house with Merula Guinness?, Kenneth's first cousin]. 1941 Minehead, Somerset with visits to London, painting in St James’s Park with Primrose Codrington. 1942 Minehead. Shares house with Betty Coxon, Rufus, Nicky and Clement; Dunkery Beacon; Porlock Weir. Frequent weekends in London. February: K leaves by air for Middle East; viaIreland, then Lisbon. March 7: Lagos; 10: Cairo; Ankara; 20: Belgian Congo, Khartoum; 27: Duala (Free French); Beirut, Istanbul, Jerusalem. 1943 Radlett, then St Albans February 19: ‘Drew Abbey in pen & ink & wash’) then London May: ’Sketched in Chelsea Hospital Gardens group (pen & wash) ... sketched in Hyde Park ... sketched Little Chattie [Salaman]’. June: move to 124 Swan Court; 15-16 ‘K away (Middle East?)’ [Back by 20th]; 26 K took my pictures to Leicester Gallery; 28 - 1 July: Meet Primrose, painting permit; City (painting war damage) July 9: Leicester Galleries accepted my pictures; 14: Leicester Gallery Private View; RAF men in Leicester Sq. August: Stay at Michel Salaman’s till mid-September. October 3: Drew in Carlisle Square; 9: ‘With (Marie-Madeleine) "Madame Villeneuve" to Frognal Grove’; 11: Sending in day, New English; 13: Denis Cohen dinner for Marie-M; 16: New English Art Club accepts my pictures; 18: Sending-in day London Group; 22: Private View, New English. November 15: ‘Fetch picture (sic) New English’; 23: K leaves for North Africa till 21st; 27: Private View London Group. December: Marie-Madeleine. 1944 Swan Court, visit Minehead and Michel. June 28: Fame and Promise exhibition, Leicester Galleries, three paintings shown. July 23: K arrives back from Normandy. Brought Commander Winney and Colonel André Manuel to supper and 'masses of butter, Port Salut & Camembert!'; 26: painted Carol in oils [age 6½].  Carol? 1944? (oil) August 25: Paris liberated. September 2: K leaves for Paris. Back before 14 September. October 9-22: K in Holland, Brussels and Paris. 1945 Swan Court and Bloomfield Terrace. February 8: Colin born 3.20 pm; 23, 26: Marie-Madeleine to see Colin. April 29: K to Brussels and Germany to 6 May. May 8: VE Day. September 28: move to BT. 1946 No diary 1947 August 16-17: September K & M to Switzerland with Carol and Colin. October 14-26 K in Germany [Hamburg]. December 3: K to Paris; 31 K gets CMG [7 years before James Bond!]. 1948 Painting model at Primrose’s and with Asphodel. Model was paid 4/6 [22.5p] a time. July 2: portrait of Carol in Redfern summer show; 20 Painted Emma [her mother] in garden & Garden from dining room. August: Salcombe, Devon. October: pictures to Redfern and Delbanco. 1949 February 26-2 April: To France with K, Colin; Mougins, Cannes [chez Marie-Madeleine - see painting at top of this page]; joined by Carol in March. August: Woolacombe, Devon September: Mrs Paton arrives. December 17-23: Colin in Guy’s Hospital [eczema]. 1950 July: Coverack, Cornwall. September 4: Dinner party: Kim Philby, Boxhalls, & ‘Americans’. December 28: Mother Bess died. |