Title: Max Arthur Cohn Records
Inclusive Dates: 1923-1950

Creator:

• Cohn, Max Arthur

Call Number: UWM Manuscript Collection 360

Quantity: 1.5 cubic ft.(1 box, 1 oversize folder)
Repository:

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives Department

Archival Locations:

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Special Collections

Abstract:

This collection contains serigraphs, lithographs, and etchings by artist Max Arthur Cohn.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-mil-uwmmss0360

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Max Arthur Cohn was a painter, printmaker, and author. He is known as one of the pioneers of screen printing as an art medium and worked to have the technique recognized as a fine-art. He was born in London in 1903 to Russian immigrants and the family immigrated to New York in 1905. As a teenager, Cohn worked for a commercial screen printer and later began experimenting with the technique as an artistic medium. Cohn studied at the Art Students League in New York between the years 1925 and 1927 and then studied in Paris at the Academy Colarossi in 1927. During the Great Depression, he worked as an easel painter for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program that supported artists by providing them with a small stipend. He served as an executive board member of the New York WPA Artists Association. Cohn was a founding member of the National Serigraph Society in 1940. In the 1950s, Cohn operated the Graphic Arts Studio in New York. Cohn is credited with teaching silkscreen techniques to Andy Warhol.

Max Arthur Cohn co-authored two books with Jacob Israel Biegeleisen: Silk Screen Stenciling as A Fine Art (1942) and Silk Screen Techniques (1958). Throughout his career, Cohn had numerous one-man shows; his first was in 1929 at the New York Civic Club and his last was held in 1989 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art History Gallery. Max Arthur Cohn died on March 25, 1998, in New York City. Other institutions which hold collections of Cohn's work include: Smithsonian American Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Boston Public Library; British Museum; Denver Art Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This collections consists of selected works done by Max Arthur Cohn between the years 1923 and 1950. There are a couple etchings, several lithographs and numerous serigraphs. Many of the items are unique editions. The collection also includes many holiday greetings cards printed by Cohn as well as a portrait of the artist done by cartoonist, Jack Markow.

The records are separated by medium and then arranged chronologically.

Citation Guide for Primary Sources

J. I. Biegeleisen and Max Arthur Cohn. Silk Screen Stenciling as a Fine Art. Call number NE1843 B52.

J. I. Biegeleisen and Max Arthur Cohn. Silk Screen Techniques. Call number NE1843 B52 1958.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials, and the collection is open to all members of the public in accordance with state law.

Use Restrictions

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

Acquisition Information

Gift of Jane Cohn Waldbaum and Steven L. Morse in 2017. From the collection of Max Arthur Cohn, from the collection of Jane Cohn Waldbaum and Steven L. Morse.

Processing Information

Katie Stollenwerk processed this collection Special Collections in June 2019.

Box   1 Folder   1	Etchings, 1923
Box   1 Folder   2	Serigraphs, 1934-1950
Box   1 Folder   3	Lithographs, 1937-1938
Box   1 Folder   4	Greeting cards, undated
Box   1 Folder   5	Portrait of Max Arthur Cohn, by Jack Markow, undated
Oversize Folder   1	Large format serigraphs, 1942 and 1948