Milein Cosman | |
|---|---|
| Born | Milein Cosman 31 March 1921 Gotha, Germany |
| Died | 21 November 2017 (aged 96) London, United Kingdom |
| Education | Slade School of Art |
| Known for | Drawing,illustration |
Emilie Cosman, known asMilein Cosman, (31 March 1921 – 21 November 2017) was a German-born British artist. She was best known for her graphic work of leading cultural figures, dancers and musicians in action, such asFrancis Bacon,Mikhail Baryshnikov,T. S. Eliot andIgor Stravinsky.
Cosman was born inGotha, Germany, in 1921, daughter of Hugo Cosmann (1879–1953). She spent most of her childhood inDüsseldorf. Because of herJewish background and the rise ofNational Socialism, she went to school in Switzerland, at theEcole d'Humanité and theInternational School of Geneva between 1937 and 1939. She came to England in 1939.[1][2]
Between 1939 and 1942, Cosman studied at theSlade School of Art.[1][3] The Slade had relocated toOxford from London during the war years. There Cosman studied drawing underRandolph Schwabe andlithography underHarold Jones.[4][5] In 1943, she attended evening classes atOxford Polytechnic, where she was taught byBernard Meninsky.[4] In the same year, she started teaching French and Art at aconvent school as well as giving lectures on Art for theWorkers' Educational Association (WEA).
In 1946, Cosman moved to London. She began book illustration and working as afreelance artist, while continuing to teach evening classes for the WEA and working for theAmerican Broadcasting Station in Europe. She contributed drawings to national and international magazines and newspapers, including the BBC’sRadio Times.[3][4] Particularly noteworthy is a commission fromHeute to drawKonrad Adenauer's post-war cabinet in Germany 1949. These drawings were acquired by the German Government Art Collection in 2019 and their first public exhibition as a collection was opened at the German Bundestag in Berlin in April 2022.[6]
In 1947, Cosman met the Viennese-born musician, writer, broadcaster and teacherHans Keller (1919–1985), whom she married in 1961.[3][4][5] Some books of his writings –The Jerusalem Diary (2001),Stravinsky The Music Maker (2010) andBritten (2013), for example – include many of her drawings and prints. Hans and Milein lived in Hampstead, where their friends included the artistMarie-Louise von Motesiczky.
Milein Cosman made a series of schools programmes on drawing forITV in 1958.[4] In all, she had nearly 30 solo exhibitions in the UK and abroad and her work has been acquired by many leading museums including theBritish Museum, theVictoria and Albert Museum, theNational Portrait Gallery, theAshmolean Museum, theFitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, theHunterian Museum in Glasgow, thePalais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and theKupferstichkabinett in Berlin.[7] She was renowned for drawing quickly, and much of her work was done from the wings or auditorium during rehearsals for concerts, theatrical and dance performances, capturing movement “in mid-flight” asErnst Gombrich put it.
In 2006, Cosman founded the Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust, which aims to support young musicians and artists as well as publishing, exhibiting and archiving her own and Hans Keller’s work.[4] In 2014, a documentary film about Milein Cosman, directed by Christoph Böll, premiered in Düsseldorf in her presence.[4]
Cosman died in November 2017.[7] She bequeathed a set of over 1300 drawings to theRoyal College of Music, London.[2][8][9] Before her death Cosman gave drawings, sketchbooks, etchings and oil paintings, The Milein Cosman Dancers Collection, to the Department of Music and Dance Studies at theUniversity of Salzburg.[10] A biography and comprehensive overview of Cosman's art by art historian Ines Schlenker was released in 2019.[11]
1949: Berkeley Gardens, London
1957: Matthiessen Gallery, London
1968: City of London Festival
1969: Camden Arts Festival
1970: Theatre des Champs-Élysées (Festival International de Danse, British Council), Paris
1974: Ryder Gallery, Los Angeles
1984: Yehudi Menuhin School, Surrey
1984: Dartington Hall, Devon
1988: Stadtmuseum, Düsseldorf
1990: Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
1996: Belgrave Gallery, London
2007: Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels
2008: Austrian Cultural Forum, London
2014: Hunterian Museum, Glasgow
2014: Kunstforum, Gotha
2015: Rathaus, Düsseldorf
2019: Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
2021: Stadtmuseum, Düsseldorf (centenary exhibition of works by Ilde Schrader and Milein Cosman, who were childhood friends)
2021: Hampstead School of Art, London
2022: Bundestag, Berlin (a joint exhibition including works from the art collection of the Akademie der Künste)
2022: Palais des Beaux Arts (Bozar), Brussels (permanent exhibition of drawings of musicians by Milein Cosman)
2022: Haus Hövener, Brilon (exhibition of works by Milein Cosman and Ilde Schrader)
2024: Stadtmuseum Bonn
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