Name

Donald Samuel Cohen

Gender

Male

Birth date

15 March 1895

Birth place

London, England View on map Close map

Death date

14 July 1924

Death Place

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia View on map Close map

Movements

Australia from 1908

Occupations

Artist (painter) | Painter

Summary

Worked: Australia (NSW).

Context

Australia

Biography

Donald Samuel Cohen

Born in London, Cohen arrived in Sydney on the S.S. Itonus on May 4, 1908, accompanied by his parents and three other brothers, having sailed from South Africa where they had been living for a few years after taking leave of England

In his youth, Cohen displayed a predilection for drawing and painting, despite suffering from a paralysis down his right side from an early age. In 1916, while he was still a pupil, the Art Gallery of New South Wales purchased a self-portrait entitled The Shade of the Hat. Being 21 at this time, Cohen was the youngest artist to have sold to the then National Gallery. Included amongst his instructors are the influential J.S. Watkins, Antonio Dattilo Rubbo and Joseph Wolinski. As a member of the Royal Art Society, Cohen exhibited frequently in the Society’s Annual Exhibition. It was noted in his obituary that his disability, which caused Cohen to work with his left hand, may have aroused considerable interest at such occasions.

Working often in portraits and genre subjects, Sir Herbert Maitland and other prominent surgeons of the day were known to have commissioned Cohen to execute anatomical diagram drawings for instruction. An exhibitor in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and beyond, a specially compiled book presented to H.R.H the Prince of Wales included one of Cohen’s sketches.

When he was 29 years old, Cohen died of heart disease (aortic valvular), an illness which he had been suffering with for two years before his death.

Australianprints © 2013

Last Updated

08 Mar 2021