Mark Cohen (born August 24, 1943) is an American photographer best known for his innovative close-up

street photography Street photography (also sometimes called candid photography) is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Although there is a difference between street and ca ...

. Cohen's major books of photography are ''Grim Street'' (2005), ''True Color'' (2007), and ''Mexico'' (2016). His work was first exhibited in a group exhibition at

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

in 1969 and he had his first solo exhibition at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York City in 1973. He was awarded Guggenheim Fellowships in 1971 and 1976.
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved March 9, 2019. and received a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

grant in 1975.NEA 1975 Annual report
(PDF), page 97.

Life and work

Cohen was born and lived in

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. It is the s ...

, Pennsylvania until 2013. He attended Penn State University and Wilkes College between 1961 and 1965, and opened a commercial photo studio in 1966. The majority of the photography for which Cohen is known is shot in the

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area (also known as the

Wyoming Valley The Wyoming Valley is a historic industrialized region of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The region is historically notable for its influence in helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution with its many anthracite coal-mines. As a metropolitan ...

), a historic industrialized region of northeastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Characteristically Cohen photographs people close-up, using a

wide-angle lens In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens refers to a lens whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens for a given film plane. This type of lens allows more of the scene to be included in the ...

and a

flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * Flash (DC Comics character), several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Barry Allen) ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Wally West, the first Kid F ...

, mostly in black and white, frequently cropping their heads from the frame, concentrating on small details. He has used 21 mm, 28 mm and 35 mm focal length, wide-angle, lenses and later on 50 mm. Cohen has described his method as 'intrusive';2004 interview with Thomas Southall, in ''Grim Street.'' "They're not easy pictures. But I guess that's why they're mine."2004 interview with

Anne Wilkes Tucker Anne Wilkes Tucker was an American museum curator of photographic works. She retired in June 2015. Life and work Tucker was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She received a B.A. in Art History from Randolph Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Vi ...

, in the preface to ''Grim Street.'' Discussing his influences with Thomas Southall in 2004 he cites ". . . so many photographers who followed Cartier-Bresson, like

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

, Koudelka, Winogrand, Friedlander." He also recognizes the influence of

Diane Arbus Diane Arbus (; née Nemerov; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
" The New York ...

. Whilst acknowledging these influences he says: "I knew about art photography...Then I did these outside the context of any other photographer." In 2013 Cohen moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania.

Publications

Books by Cohen

*''Mark Cohen, Photographer: A Monograph.'' 1980. 38 pp. . *''Mark Cohen: October 10 – December 13, 1981.'' Washington, DC:

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

, 1981. 24 pp. . *''Images: A Photographic Essay of Northeastern Pennsylvania.'' Avoca, PA: Economic Development Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1982. 58 pp. . *''Five Minutes in Mexico: Photographs.'' Wilkes-Barre, PA: Sordoni Art Gallery, 1989. 71 pp. . *''Grim Street.'' New York: powerHouse, 2005. . *''True Color.'' New York: powerHouse, 2007. . Text by

Vince Aletti Vince Aletti (born 1945) is a curator, writer, and photography critic. Career Music industry Aletti was a contributing writer for ''Rolling Stone'' from 1970 to 1989. He was the first person to write about disco in an article published by the m ...

. Work in colour originating as a commission from George Eastman House. * ''Italian Riviera''. Rome: Punctum, 2008. . Edition of 40 copies. Made along the Levante Riviera, during his stay in

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiav ...

, Liguria. *''Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence.'' Self-published / CreateSpace, 2012. . Catalogue of the exhibition ''Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence'' at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, January 2010 to March 2011, curated by Peter Barbiere. *''Dark Knees''. Paris: Xavier Barral, 2013. . "Wilkes-Barre and around Pennsylvania 1969–2012". "Published on the occasion of the exhibition Mark Cohen Dark Knees at e Balin Paris between September 27 and December 8, 2013 and at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam between November 8, 2014 and January 11, 2015." *''Frame: a Retrospective.'' Austin:

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, 2015. . With an introduction by Jane Livingston. *''Mexico''. Austin:

, 2016. . *''Bread in Snow.'' Tokyo: Super Labo, 2019. . *''Cotton''. Tokyo: Super Labo, 2021. .

Contributions to publications

*''Contatti. Provini d'Autore'' = ''Choosing the best photo by using the contact sheet''. Vol. I. Edited by Giammaria De Gasperis. Rome: Postcart, 2012. .

Books about Cohen

*''Wonders Seen in Forsaken Places: An essay on the photographs and the process of photography of Mark Cohen'' by Alphonso Lingis. Self-published / CreateSpace, 2010. .

Awards

*1971: Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation *1975:

grant *1976: Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

*1962: Pennsylvania State University, University Park *1965: Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania *1967: Spanish National Tourist Office, New York City *1973: ''Photographs by Mark Cohen,''

, New York City *1975: Art Institute of Chicago *2010/2011: ''Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence,'' Philadelphia Museum of Art *2013: ''Mark Cohen: Italian Riviera, 2008,'' Maslow Collection at

Marywood University Marywood University is a private Catholic university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Established in 1915 by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Marywood currently enrolls more than 2,800 students in a variety of undergraduate, grad ...

, Scranton, PA *2013: ''Dark Knees (1969–2012),'' Le Bal, Paris *2014: ''Mark Cohen,'' Danziger Gallery, New York *2014/2015: ''Dark Knees,'' Netherlands Photo Museum, Rotterdam

Group exhibitions

*1969: ''Vision and Expression,''

, Rochester, New York. Organised by

Nathan Lyons Nathan Lyons (January 10, 1930 – August 31, 2016) was an American photographer, curator, and educator. He exhibited his photographs from 1956 onwards, produced books of his own and edited those of others. Lyons was also a curator of photography ...

. *1978: ''Mirrors and Windows: American Photography Since 1960,'' Museum of Modern Art, New York City

Collections

Cohen's work is held in the following permanent collections: * Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago *

, Washington, D.C. *

Fogg Art Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

, Cambridge, MA *

, Rochester, New York *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York City *Musee de la Photographie, Belgium * Museum of Fine Arts, Houston *

, New York City *

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

, Melbourne, Australia *The Polaroid Collection,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, Cambridge, MA *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London *

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, New York City: 4 printsMark Cohen: 1943–
Whitney Museum of American Art. Accessed June 21, 2017.

References

External links

Cohen biography at Danziger Gallery

Cohen explains and demonstrates how he works
Contemporary Photographie in the USA (Spring 1982), Michael Engler Filmproduktion (6 m video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Mark People from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania American photographers Street photographers Pennsylvania State University alumni 1943 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews