Eleanor Coen (October 21, 1916 – July 9, 2010) was an American painter.

Biography

Eleanor Coen was born October 21, 1916 in

Normal, Illinois Normal is a town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town's population was 52,736. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal Metropolitan Statist ...

. Both a student (and later teacher) at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, Coen studied there with Boris Anisfeld, Francis Chapin and

Max Kahn Max Kahn (1902–2005) was a Litvak lithographer, painter and sculptor born in Slonim, Belarus in 1902. He worked until age 100 and died in 2005 at the age of 103. He was one of a small group of lithographers in the late 1940s and 1950s demonst ...

. She married Kahn in 1942. She established her art career during the great depression. In the Works Progress Administration Federal Arts Project (WPA_FAP) she and her husband

helped forge a tradition of 20th century color lithography and painting. She was at the forefront of Chicago art in the 1940s and 1950s. Her work found inspiration the urban landscapes, her travels and the figure rendered in her signature figurative expressionist style. From 1939 to 1940, while a student at the Chicago Art Institute Coen participated in the Depression-era WPA

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. She shared a studio with

and other artists Isadore Weiner and Misch Kohn in Chicago's South Side. There they pioneered color lithography which wasn't supported at the time at SAIC. In 1941 Eleanor was the first woman to win the James Nelson Raymond Traveling Fellowship, a $2000 first prize (for students with the best work). People who won usually went to Europe but because of the war Max and Eleanor decided to go to Mexico. They drove to Mexico with friend and fellow artist Julio de Diego, (who later married

Gypsy Rose Lee Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper and vedette famous for her striptease act. Also an actress, author, and playwright, her 1957 memoir was adapted in ...

). In Mexico City they lived with their close friend

Alfredo Zalce Alfredo Zalce Torres (12 January 1908 – 19 January 2003) was a Mexican artist and contemporary of Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros and other better-known muralists. He worked principally as a painter, sculptor, and engraver, also taught, and ...

, who was a founder of the Taller De Grafica Popular (TGP). Eleanor completed a number of lithographs in that time frame and in fact, was the first woman to work for the TGP. She and Max were both active members of the TGP and influenced other Chicago area artists to follow. With a close friend, artist Pablo O'Higgins, Max and Eleanor went to San Miguel de Allende where Max set up a litho studio and taught lithography at the School of Bellas Artes in

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the municipality of San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the city lies from Mexico City, 86 km (53 mi) from Queré ...

, Mexico. While there Eleanor painted a larg
mural
which still graces a wall in the school courtyard. Th

and school are national monuments. A good friend Alfredo Zalce, was also doing a mural there at the same time. In Mexico she met other artists such as

Leopoldo Méndez Leopoldo Méndez (June 30, 1902 – February 8, 1969) was one of Mexico's most important graphic artists and one of that country's most important artists from the 20th century. Méndez's work mostly focused on engraving for illustrations and othe ...

, and

Ángel Bracho Ángel Bracho (February 14, 1911 – February 1, 2005) was a Mexican engraver and painter who is best known for his politically themed work associated with the Taller de Gráfica Popular; however he painted a number of notable murals as well. Bra ...

. She was especially influenced by Jose Clement Orozco for his figural style. After the war started they came back to Chicago where she and Max were married in 1942. Eleanor and Max returned to Mexico several times traveling throughout the Yucatán and staying in Campeche with their artist frien
Frank Vavruska
She taught at SAIC Ox-Bow summer school of art in Saugatuck, Michigan with Francis Chapin. Eleanor and Max painted in San Francisco, Blackhawk Colorado, Santa Fe and on Martha's Vineyard where they have a studio and worked during the summers. Eleanor has had a long and successful career at the forefront of printmaking and oil painting and is a vital part of the art community. Her work appears in numerous collections and museums including the Art Institute of Chicago and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

. She has won numerous prizes including the American Color Print Society in 1953, Philadelphia Print Club in 1952 and the Chicago show. Eleanor has been called the best painter in Chicago of the 1940s & 1950s era. She has won numerous prizes and now shows at the Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery in Chicago. Coen's work is displayed at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

and

References

External links

*
Smithsonian American Art MuseumEleanor Coen and Max Kahn papers
from the Smithsonian

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coen, Eleanor 1916 births 2010 deaths American muralists School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni American women painters Painters from Illinois Women muralists Federal Art Project artists 21st-century American women