Select chronology sources: various newspaper archives including Rock Island Argus (IL), Daily Times (Davenport, IA), and Davenport Democrat and Leader (IA); Irma Koen family archives; and The Art Institute of Chicago exhibition catalogs (Museum Exhibition History digital archive, Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, AIC).
1883 Born Irma Julia Kohn, October 8th, Rock Island, IL; parents Louis Kohn and Regina “Rena” Mosenfelder Kohn; younger sister Margo Kohn [Certification of Birth, Rock Island County & United States Census, Rock Island, IL, June 4, 1900]
Collections, Awards, & Memberships
Exhibitions (selected list) & Travel
1907 Thirteenth Annual Exhibition of the Works of the Art Students’ League of Chicago, AIC, March
1908 Fourteenth Annual Exhibition of the Works of the Art Students’ League of Chicago, AIC
1910 Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of the Works of the Art Students’ League of Chicago, AIC, March 8–27; oil paintings “Afterglow over Pine Hill” & “Reflected Sunset” [village of Pine Hill, Ulster County, (Catskills) NY]
1911 18th annual exhibition Art Students’ League of Chicago, AIC
1912 19th annual exhibition Art Students’ League of Chicago, AIC, April
1912 20th annual exhibition Art Students’ League of Chicago, AIC, December; six oil paintings
1913 17th Annual Exhibition of Works by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, AIC, Jan. 28–Feb. 21; “Towering Locusts”
1913 3 paintings shown at Wm. H. Powell’s Art Gallery (Paintings by American Artists), 983 Sixth Avenue, New York City, November
1914 Eighteenth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists, March 4–31, Toledo Museum of Art, 2 paintings: “Corey’s Garden” and “Autumn Twilight” [exhibit also toured 1913/14: in St. Louis, November; Cincinnati, Nov.30-Dec. 24; Chicago, Dec. 31-Jan. 24; Indianapolis, Feb. 4-Mar. 1; Toledo, Mar. 7-31; and Louisville, April 7-30]
1914 Spring, traveled to the Mediterranean, Italy, Germany, and France then visited England in June through August, Snell Summer Class (in England when WWI declared)
1914 A Collection of Water Colors from The Annual Exhibition of The New York Water Color Club, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY, December; “In Zennor, Cornwall,” “In the Dyegy [Digey], St. Ives, England,” & “In Chester Cathedral”
1915 19th annual exhibit, Art Students’ League of Chicago, AIC
1915 Traveled to art colony at Monterey and Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA; attended Carmel Summer School of Art July 7-August 31 and awarded student exhibition prize
1915 Visited and exhibited in (Department of Fine Arts) Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco; paintings “Street in Stratford-on-Avon” & “St. Ives: Lighthouse on the Pier”
1915 Tri-City Art League group exhibit, paintings by Kohn, with Julius Hoftrup, Armand Wargny, Frank Weisbrook, and sculpture by Ben Cable at Davenport Public Library (IA), Nov. 24–Dec. 11
1916 Twentieth Annual Exhibition, Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, AIC, Feb. 8–March 5; “Alvarado Street, Monterey;” “Old custom-house, Monterey,” watercolor; “Mission at Carmel-by-the-Sea,” watercolor; “Old Street, Monterey, California,” watercolor; & “The Zone, Panama-Pacific Exposition”
1916 49th Annual Exhibition of the American Water Color Society, Spring 1916
1916 An Exhibition of Selected Water Colors and Miniatures by American Artists, City Art Museum, St. Louis, June 18, “Base of the Tower of Jewels” and “Italian Court, Panama-Pacific Exposition,” “Rotary Exhibition” of the 49th Annual Exhibition of the American Water Color Society, Spring 1916
1916 Traveling group exhibition, 52 oil paintings from AIC, Des Moines; “Washday at St. Ives”
1916 Traveled to Lancaster County, PA, Autumn
1917 Annual exhibition of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, Transit Building, NYC, February
1917 Twenty-first Annual Exhibition, Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, AIC, Feb.-Mar.; 5 watercolors and 2 oils, scenes of Pennsylvania
1917 Member of Artists’ Guild in Chicago
1917 Traveled to art colony, Gloucester, MA, Summer
1917 Tri-City Art League exhibition of Kohn oil paintings with Mr. W.P. Welsh of Chicago, Davenport Public Library (IA), November
1917 28th Annual Exhibition New York Water Color Club, November, “Wonson’s Wharf” [Gloucester, MA]; “The Guinea Docks”; “Publicover’s Landing”; “Friday Morning”; “On Main Street, Gloucester” [Worcester Art Museum sells “Publicover’s Landing” in 1917-18]
1917–18 Thirteenth Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings and Sculpture, AIC, Nov. 8–Jan. 2; “Fête Day, 1917”; “Moonlight” & “To Portuguese Hill, Gloucester” (other exhibited artists: Childe Hassam and William Merritt Chase)
1918 Artists’ Guild exhibition, Chicago; honorable mention for “Sunshine and Shadow”
1918 3rd Annual Exhibit of Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings, North Shore artists group exhibit, Gallery on the Moors, East Gloucester (MA), Aug. 15–Sept. 5, with Jane Peterson, Henry B. Snell, and others
1918 Exhibits at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; “The Ferry Wharf” and “Fête Day, 1917”; also exhibits at PAFA in 1928
1918 “Fête Day, 1917” painting entered PAFA collection
1918 First Exhibition of Oil Paintings by Illinois Artists, Peoria Society of Allied Arts, Peoria (IL), Nov. 11–22; Irma awarded a medal
1918 Sixteenth Annual Philadelphia Water Color Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Nov. 10–Dec. 15: “The Guinea Docks,” opaque watercolor
1919 National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors exhibit, National Academy of Design, NYC, February, “Late Twilight”; also National Academy of Design exhibits in 1922 & 1926
1918/19 Toledo Museum of Art (OH) acquired “The Ferry Wharf”
1919 34th Annual Exhibition of the Art Association of Indianapolis, Jan. 19-Mar. 2, with Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, & others
1920 Gallery on the Moors exhibit, East Gloucester, MA, August, “The Garden by the Sea”
1920 24th Annual Exhibit of Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, AIC, awarded “Englewood Woman’s Club Prize” for a group of paintings
1920 The Thirty-Second Annual Exhibition of Water Colors, Pastels and Miniatures by American Artists, AIC, May 11–June 6; “Fifth Avenue, Rock Island, Illinois,” “House On The Moors” & “Street Fair”
1920 33rd Annual Exhibition of American Oil Paintings and Sculpture, AIC, Nov. 4–Dec. 12; “A Little Street”
1921 Tri-City Art League exhibit, December, Rock Island Public Library (IL)
1921 Third Annual Exhibition of Paintings by Illinois Artists, Rock Island (IL)
1921 Group exhibition [including John Sloan] at Grace Horne’s Gloucester (MA) tea room and gallery, Summer
1921 25th Chicago Artists’ annual exhibit, AIC
1921-22 8th Biennial Exhibition – Oil paintings by Contemporary American Artists, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C., Dec. 17–Jan.22 [exhibited with Lowell Birge Harrison, John Sloan and Edward Redfield–more than 200 leading American artists represented]
1921-22 Joins “A Painter Group of the Middle West” (formed September 1921) and exhibits first at Des Moines Public Library (Sept. 1921), then tours to Cedar Rapids Library, Omaha, [Sioux City?], Kansas City Art Institute, and Newhouse Gallery in St. Louis (1922). Nineteen members from St. Louis, Chicago, Grand Rapids and elsewhere included: Karl Krafft (acting Secretary), Pauline Palmer, Wayman Adams, Alice Schille, John Noble, Frederick Grant, and others
1921-22 “Better Homes Institute” traveling group exhibition, organized by AIC, Emporia (KS), Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts (NY), and other venues; “The Fog Lift”
1922 26th Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, AIC
1922 Solo exhibit of paintings, Moline Public Library (IL)
1922 Carson Pirie Scott & Co. exhibit of watercolors and paintings of Maine coast
1922 31st Annual Exhibition of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, Anderson Galleries, NY, April; “From Hill to Hill”
1922 Summer travel to Boothbay Harbor, Maine
1922 Member of jury, Fourth Annual Exhibition of Paintings by Illinois artists, Peoria (IL), November
1923 May 3rd, travels to France and spends summer painting in Brittany and port city/artist colony of Concarneau, begins to sign paintings “Irma Roen [sic]”
1923 Opened a studio in Paris [by November] and exhibited large Boothbay Harbor oil “To the Sea” [aka “Out to Sea”] in the Paris Salon D’Automne
1924 Paris Salon, spring, April 30 to June 30, 1924, Grand Palais des Beaux Arts, Societé Nationale des Beaux Arts annual exhibition [National School of Fine Arts], all 4 paintings “hung on the line”: two oils #1094 “October […]” and #1095 [title?], and two watercolors #2597 “The Yellow Tail” and #2598 “Market at Concarneau”
1924 Spring and Summer, traveled to North Africa, visiting Tunisia and Algeria, spent two months in Kairouan, Tunisia
1924 Returns in late July from France and Africa; spends late summer and autumn at parents’ summer camp cottage on the Rock River in Rock Island (IL), creating “small sketchy pictures” with impressions of high cloud effects, meadows and the river
1924 Tri-City Art League exhibition, Nov. 26-Dec. 3, at Tri-City Art League studios, Old Masonic Temple, Davenport (IA); paintings from trip abroad: “In the Port”; “When the Fishing Fleet Puts to Sea”; “The Red Sail”; along with more than 13 gouache water colors depicting scenes in Brittany, Kairouan, and Tunis including “A Street in Kairouan,” “The Gate of the City,” “The Porte de Tunis”
1925 Lecture on African travels to Rock Island D.A.R., home of Mrs. F.C. Denkmann
1925 Tri-City Art League exhibition, Old Masonic Temple, Davenport, IA, March, with multiple artists
1925 Group exhibition, Dunbar Galleries, Chicago; “Gates of City of Kairovan” [sic] [listed as “Irma Roen” (sic)]
1925 The Fifth International Water Color Exhibition, AIC, May 1-June 4, [listed as “Irma Roen” (sic)]; five watercolors — three landscapes (Concarneau, Paris, Ville Close) & two landscapes of Africa
1925 Solo exhibition, Hostetler Studios, Davenport (IA), May 30–June 3, sketches and small oils of France and Algiers
1925 Summer, travels to Rockport, MA, art colony
1925 Official Catalogue: Art Department State Fair of Texas: Twentieth Annual Loan Collection of American Paintings, exhibited with National Society of Women Painters as “Irma Roen [sic],” Dallas (TX), Oct. 10-25, 1925; “The Harbor–Concarean [sic]” [Concarneau, France]; selection of “modern American art” from the “best galleries and studios in this country”
1926 Changes professional name to Irma René Koen
1926 Des Moines Public Library exhibit with Olive Rush, Des Moines Association of Fine Arts, Jan. 1-31; [listed as “Miss René Koen”]
1926 Solo watercolor exhibition, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery (IA), February; local scenic views and summer scenes from east [1925], as well as Brittany, Paris, Tunis and Algiers [exhibits as “Irma Kohn”]
1926 Watercolor and pastel exhibition, National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, March; first honorable mention for landscapes of Nefta oasis, Illinois farms and other locales
1926 Decorative Painting and Sculpture by National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, The Brooklyn Museum, April 17-May 23; landscape paintings [“Irma Rene Koen”]
1926 Oshkosh Public Museum (WI), July, exhibit of seven old world watercolors [“Irma Rene Koen”]
1926 American Artists collection, Sesquicentennial exhibition, Philadelphia, summer; three watercolors: “The Red Silo” [scene near Milan, IL], “The Caid’s House, Tunis” and “Montmartre, Paris”
1926 July–September, spent 3 months in Canada and mostly in Boothbay Harbor (ME)
1926 First Art Exhibition by Members of the Illinois Fine Arts Academy, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, November; “The Last Glow” [listed as “Erma Rene Koen” (sic)]
1926 Chicago Galleries Association group exhibition, Oct. 25-Nov. 6; marine scenes and travel sketches [“Irma Rene Koen”]
1927 36th annual exhibition, National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, American Fine Arts Building, NYC, Feb. 16-March 6 [“Irma Rene Koen”]
1927 First Exhibition of The Illinois Women Painters, Illinois Women’s Athletic Club, Chicago, Mar. 22-April 3; “The Shoreline” and “The Hushed Hour”
1927 The Seventh International Exhibition Water Colors, Pastels, Drawings, Miniatures, AIC, April 28–May 29; “Market, Quebec, 1927” (gouache on paper) and “New England Evening” [exhibits as “Irma Rene Koen”]
1927 Davenport Municipal Art Gallery (IA) exhibition featuring Koen’s oils and watercolors accompanying the great biennial convention of the Iowa Federation of Women’s Clubs, May
1927 June 5th Irma hosts reception at her home for visiting artists in Illinois Academy of Fine Arts exhibit held at the Rock Island Public Library
1927 Chicago Galleries Association Fourth Semi-Annual Exhibition of its Members, $250 prize to “The Port” by “Irma R. Koen”
1927 Austin, Oak Park and River Forest Art League exhibition, Oak Park (IL)
1927 Studied in Boothbay Harbor (ME), Snell Summer Class/Henry B. Snell
1927 Minnesota State Fair, Fine Art Exhibition: “Market, Quebec”
1927 Rock Island Public Library exhibition; three watercolors: “The Red Silo” [scene near Milan, IL], “The Caid’s House, Tunis” and “Montmartre, Paris”
1928 Watercolor exhibition, New York Water Color Club and American Water Color Society, Fine Arts Building, January
1928 February, Irma spent a month’s visit in Chicago with friends
1928 Second Exhibition of The Illinois Women Painters, Illinois Women’s Athletic Club, Chicago, Feb. 13-17; “All on a Summer’s Day” (currently Figge Art Museum collection)
1928 Annual exhibition, Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, AIC, Feb.-March; “Bridge Street”; “Clear Day, Maine”; “Sea, Sky and Ships”; “The Bridge to Town”; and “The Edge of Town”
1928 Group exhibition, Annual Exhibition by the Professional Members, Arts Club of Chicago, April 15–May 5
1928 Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts exhibition; “The Road that Turns”
1928 Essay published in Portraits by Painter Paul Trebilcock; interview by Koen reprinted from Christian Science Monitor
1928 Travels to Boothbay Harbor (ME) and New Hope (PA) artist colonies
1929 Koen in Chicago for the year; won honors at “National Painters’ exhibit,” NYC
1929 Solo exhibition, Winter, Chicago Galleries Association; Boothbay Harbor scenes
1929 Thirty Third Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, AIC, Feb. 7-March 10; 2 paintings “A Village in Maine” and “White Wings,” which wins The Fine Arts Building Purchase Prize
1929 Exhibition at Kohler Recreation Hall (WI), organized by Chicago Galleries Association collection, sponsored by Kohler Woman’s Club art committee for Better Homes week, May: “The Mill,” painting purchased by students of the Kohler school
1929 Davenport Municipal Art Gallery Board of Trustees purchases “All on a Summer’s Day” [Figge Art Museum]
1929 Summer, Traveled to New Mexico [Taos] (documented visit to New Mexico in July 1929 with intended travel to West Coast after [Monterey, CA])
1930 Traveling exhibition of watercolors and paintings (members of Chicago Galleries Association), Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin, Madison
1930 Exhibition with Myrtle Holm Smith, Grace Horne’s Galleries, Boston, December; paintings [artist M. Holm Smith (Waban, MA) became president, The Board of Directors of the Mother Church, First Church of Christ, Scientist, 1945-46]
1932 Thirty-Sixth Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, AIC, Jan. 28-Mar. 20
1932 “February Group,” exhibition of works by Irma Rene Koen, Charles P. Killgore, Orrin A. White, Oscar E. Berninghaus, Grant Wood, and Dixie Selden, Chicago Galleries Association, February [travels to Davenport, IA]
1932 March, artist Grant Wood visited Irma’s Rock Island home “Mille Fleurs”
1932 Christian Science Monitor (March 26), Koen wrote article on Regionalist painter Grant Wood, the earliest testimonial of Wood stating his value of Midwestern material culture
1932 Spent autumn in Doylestown, PA (October-December)
1932/33 Returned to Rock Island
1933 Exhibition, James Spencer Dickerson Art Gallery (campus library), Frances Shimer Junior College, Mt. Carroll (IL)
1933 Exhibition of Art by Members of the Association of Chicago Painters and Sculptors, A Century of Progress World Exposition, Gibson Lounge, Home Planning Hall, Chicago, painting “The River”; also exhibits a flower painting, Horticultural Building at Century of Progress World Exposition
1934 “Two-Man Show,” Koen and Marie M. Struve, Arts Club exhibit, galleries in Hickey Building, Davenport (IA), January
1934 Group exhibition of works by Thomas Hall, Irma Rene Koen, Alfred J. Wands, and Ingeborg Christiansen, Chicago Galleries Association, February
1935 Group exhibition, Chicago Galleries Association, February, series of Rock Island sunsets and impressions of “last summer’s Fair”
1935 Traveling group exhibition, organized by Chicago Galleries Association, Lauren Rogers’ Library and Museum, Laurel (MS), April
1940 First Annual “Art and Artists Along the Mississippi” Exhibition, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery (IA); painting “From My Studio Window”
1940 Annual Exhibition John H. Vanderpoel Art Association, Vanderpoel Art Gallery, Ridge Park Fieldhouse, Chicago
1941 14th Annual Quad-City Artists Exhibition, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery; paintings “Pennsylvania Village” and “Hillside in East Moline” (won the sweepstakes award)
1943-44 Sold parents’ home in Dec. 1943. Auctioned 30 paintings [Nov. 1943]. Traveled to Mexico in February 1944 with her sister Margo for two months. Moved to San Miguel de Allende circa 1944, lived along Lake Chapala in Ajijic, and in Pátzcuaro, Mazatlan, and established permanent residency. Later moved to Cuernavaca ca. 1947/48, and in 1957 established a permanent home and studio in Cuernavaca.
1944-70s Traveled and painted throughout Mexico [Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, Acapulco], and in Central America [Guatemala, Lake Atitlan], Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, Kashmir, Nepal, and Iran; changed style to palette knife painting; continued to exhibit in Pátzcuaro, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico City, and Cuernavaca, also in Illinois, and Iowa.
1946 Illinois State Museum Art Gallery, traveling group exhibit from Chicago Galleries Association, summer; oil painting “Mexican Charm”
1947 Gran Exposicion de Pinturas de Irma Rene Koen, Circulo de Bellas Artes de Mexico, Mexico D.F., Oct. 11-24; exhibit later toured to Chicago Galleries Association, Davenport Municipal Art Gallery (1948), Parsons College (Fairfield, IA, 1949)
1948 Visits United States: California, Iowa and Illinois
1949 Solo exhibition, Des Moines Art Center, March, 26 paintings, scenes of Mexico and Latin America; solo show also shown at Chicago Galleries association [previously at the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery]. “Market at Etla” painting purchased by an anonymous donor for the Des Moines Art Center’s permanent collection.
1951 Chicago Galleries Association exhibition, scenes of Mexico
1952 Fourteenth Annual Fine Arts Festival: Contemporary Art in Iowa, State University of Iowa, June 15-August 1; “Market at Etla” [Oaxaca]
1956 Chicago Galleries Association exhibition, scenes of Mexico
1956 Exposicion de pintura, Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City [Gallery of Mexican Art, No. 18 Milan Street, director, Miss Ines Amor, principal year-round dealer in modern Mexican art, aka known as the Ines Amor Gallery], May
1956 Watercolors of Mexico, solo exhibition, Davenport Municipal Gallery of Art, December 9-30
1962 Traveled to Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Iran, Thailand, Cambodia (August to December)
Dec. 1962 or later Expocition of Oriental Watercolors by Irma Rene Koen, Quinta La Escondida Privada del Mirador, Mexico, Dec. 6-8, scenes of Hong Kong, Shinsagar (sic), India, Persia, Nepal, etc.
1968 Traveled to Chicago
1968 Landscapes and Markets by Irma Rene Koen, Galeria de Edith Quijano, Mexico City, Mexico, March; 20 paintings
1969 Traveled to Los Angeles, visited family
1969 Exposición de óleos presentada por el gobierno del Estado de Morelos, Palacio de Cortés, Nov. 20-Dec. 9, Cuernavaca
1973 Galería de Arte Van Gelder, solo show, “Works of Art by Irma Rene Koen,” opening Dec. 15 [director, Daniel B. Van Gelder]; her last known exhibition
1975 Died, Cuernavaca, Mexico, July 16th [Irma Koen family archives]
1995 City Views, Print exhibition, Des Moines Art Center (IA); watercolor by Irma Rene Koen exhibited
2003 Our Flag, Permanent collection exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Irma Kohn’s “Fête Day, 1917” painting exhibited
2015 Quad Cities Jewish Heritage, Putnam Museum exhibition, Davenport (IA); a Koen oil painting exhibited
2017 Irma René Koen: An Artist Rediscovered, Figge Art Museum (Davenport, IA), September 30-December 31, 2017; featuring 42 works of art, co-curated by Cynthia Wiedemann Empen and Vanessa Sage; with companion catalog, news articles, podcasts and lectures
2018 Irma René Koen article, “The Art of Grant Wood,” Christian Science Monitor (March 26, 1932) cited in Grant Wood retrospective exhibition catalog, Whitney Museum (NY): p. 36, n.26 and n.33, Barbara Haskell essay, “Grant Wood Through the Past, Darkly,” in Barbara Haskell, Grant Wood: American Gothic and Other Fables (Yale University Press, 2018)
2018 “Illinois Women Artists, Part 32: Irma René Koen Artist, Traveler, and Arts Advocate,” biographical essay in Illinois Heritage (January-February 2018)
© Copyright Cynthia Wiedemann Empen, compiled research and essay/text content
Irma René Koen 