Syril Cohn, Abstract Expressionist Painter
Bill Schenley
By Steve Rubenstein, staff writer
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/10/27/BAGL39GT631.DTL
Syril Cohn, a fourth-generation San Franciscan and an abstract
expressionist painter known for her wildly colorful and imaginative
canvases, has died.
Mrs. Cohn, 95, died Sunday at her Pacific Heights home after a brief
illness.
A small woman with a sharp sense of humor that was reflected in her
art, Mrs. Cohn had several one-woman shows in San Francisco. She
conducted her most recent exhibition, which filled the lobby of a
Pacific Heights medical building, at the age of 93.
Her acrylic and watercolor images, which carried fanciful names such
as "Not Quite Blue,'' were created with a joyful abandon that
occasionally involved climbing on chairs and dropping paint from high
above. She called that technique "bombardiering.''
She was a student of San Francisco artist Sam Provenzano, and her art
was frequently inspired by her travels to such places as Paris, Japan,
Israel and the California desert.
Mrs. Cohn, a graduate of Lowell High School in San Francisco, was an
interior decorator, a collector of modestly priced antiques, an
accomplished raconteur and a gracious hostess. She was active in the
San Francisco chapter of the American Heart Association, helping to
promote the Heart-to-Heart program that advocated sensible eating
habits. She was also a volunteer for Planned Parenthood.
Mrs. Cohn was a resourceful cook, best-known by her five grandchildren
for her heart-healthy macaroni and cheese and for a dish of her own
creation that involved margarine and ground cinnamon over baked
Triscuit crackers.
Her husband of 55 years, San Francisco dentist and pianist Al Cohn,
died in 1987.
Mrs. Cohn is survived by two sons, Keith Cohn of San Francisco and
Bruce Cohn of Tiburon; grandchildren Lisa and Pamela Cohn of San
Francisco, Valerie Ormeño of San Jose, Zachary Cohn of Tiburon and
Bret Cohn of Minneapolis; and by four great-grandchildren.
A private memorial service will be held Saturday in San Francisco.