1883 Born Irma Julia Kohn, October 8th, Rock Island, IL; parents Louis Kohn and Regina “Rena” or “Renie” Mosenfelder Kohn; younger sister Margo Kohn [Certification of Birth, Rock Island County & United States Census, Rock Island, IL, June 4, 1900]
Education
1903 A gifted pianist and cellist; graduated from Rock Island High School with younger sister Margo [transferred from St. Katherine’s high school, Davenport, IA]
1903 Enrolled in art classes at Augustana College, Rock Island (IL), September 10th [only 3 days of art lessons with Swedish-American painter Jonas Olof Grafström]
1903 Enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, September, Studied with landscape painter Charles Francis Browne (1859–1920)
1908–09 Enrolled in Life Drawing Class, Art Institute of Chicago (hereafter AIC)
1908 Receives certificate, AIC, and pursues post graduate work; teaches at AIC
1907 & 1908 Member of Charles Browne’s outdoor sketching class in Grand Detour, IL, summer
ca. 1908 Studied with leading Danish-American portraitist John Christen Johansen (1876–1964) in Vermont
1909 Studied with influential teacher/painter Frank DuMond at Lyme Summer School of Art in Connecticut
1909 December, Opened “Arts and Crafts Studio” with her sister Margo at 1719 1/2 Second Ave. in Rock Island (IL) (now demolished); studio also open in 1910 with exhibition of Dudley C. Watson paintings and her own works
1910 Studied at Art Students’ League of New York Woodstock Summer School (NY), outdoor landscape painting with notable American Tonalist and landscape painter Lowell Birge Harrison and landscape painter John F. Carlson; painted scenes of Catskills
1913 Studied at Art Students’ League of New York Woodstock Summer School, with John F. Carlson
1914 Snell Summer Class, Europe & St. Ives Art Colony, visited England June through August (Zennor in Cornwall, St. Ives, and Stratford-on-Avon), studying with eminent teacher and painter Henry B. Snell; first traveled to the Mediterranean, arriving in Naples, Italy (May), then visiting Switzerland and Germany, and arriving in Paris, France in June. Arrived in London on June 27th and then joined Snell class at St. Ives for two months. Spent several weeks traveling in London and to Stratford-upon-Avon, returning to Illinois late September/first week of October due to start of WWI.
1915 Attended Carmel Summer School of Art at Carmel-by-the-Sea under the direction of C.P. Townsley and associated with William Merritt Chase, July 7-August 31; awarded student exhibition prize
Permanent Collections
Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts (Fête Day, 1917, o/c, acquired 1918)
Toledo Art Museum (The Ferry Wharf, oil, 1918, acquired in 1919, deaccessioned 1968, sold auction)
Chicago Public Schools collection (Over the Hill, o/c, circa 1922, donated to CPS in 1922-23, present location unknown, not in CPS inventory, originally installed in Le Moyne Elementary on Waveland Ave., currently Inter-American Magnet School)
Illinois State Museum, Springfield (From Hill to Hill, o/c, acquired 1929)
Figge Art Museum (Davenport, IA) (All in a Summer’s Day, o/c, acquired 1929, formerly Davenport Municipal Art Gallery)
City of Chicago, Commission for the Encouragement of Local Art collection, (Boothbay Harbor, Maine, o/c, acquired 1929, current location unknown)
Rock Island Public Library (IL) (Gloucester in Autumn, o/c, acquired April 1943)
Des Moines Art Center (IA) (Dawn, o/c, acquired in 1950; and 2 watercolors: The City (Chicago) [ca. 1920, signed “Irma Kohn”; acquired 1957] and Market Scene [ca. 1923, France; signed “Irma Roen”; acquired 1957])
Oklahoma City Museum of Art (Mitla, o/c, circa 1944-47, donated by Koen in 1963, and Guatemala Fantasy, o/c, circa 1944-47, donated by Koen in 1963)
Peoria Art Association
Awards/Honors
1915—student exhibition prize, Carmel Summer School of Art, Carmel, CA
1917 or ’18—Fanny J. Kendall prize, Art Institute of Chicago, Art Students’ League exhibit
1918—Honorable mention for painting “Sunshine and Shadow,” The Artists’ Guild Exhibition, Chicago
1918—First Prize Medal, Peoria Society of Allied Arts exhibition, for painting “The Ferry Wharf”
1920—Englewood Woman’s Club Prize of $50 for group of paintings; AIC exhibit Artists of Chicago and Vicinity
1921—Business Men’s Art Club Prize of $100 for group of paintings, AIC exhibit Artists of Chicago and Vicinity
1926—First Honorable Mention for watercolors of Nefta and Illinois farms, National Women Painters and Sculptors exhibit, New York
1927—$250 prize for “The Port” by “Irma R. Koen,” Chicago Galleries Association Fourth Semi-annual Exhibition of its members
1929[?]—Won Honors at National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors exhibit, New York
1929—The Fine Arts Building Purchase Prize of $500 for painting “White Wings” (regatta scene, currently unlocated), AIC
1929—Irma one of 113 women honored for distinction in painting and her “pioneering spirit and outstanding brilliant work” in recognition of the leadership of women, central regional conference of the Y.W.C.A.
Awards received from Davenport Municipal Art Gallery (IA—currently Figge Art Museum):
1930—Friends of Art best landscape award for “The Street That Turns” [Monterey, CA], annual Tri-City Artists’ Exhibit
1931—Friends of Art third prize award for painting “Gloucester in October,” annual Tri-City Artists’ Exhibit
1932—Honorable mention for painting “Clear Day,” annual Tri-City Artists’ Exhibit
1933—Honorable mention for painting “Sails and Storm Clouds,” annual Tri-City Artists’ Exhibit
1936—Second prize for any medium, painting “A Street in New Hope,” annual Tri-City Artists’ Exhibit
1941—Ramsey Co. Sweepstakes prize, painting “Hillside in East Moline,” 14th Annual Quad-City Art exhibition
1938—Listed in “Who’s Who in American Art”
Memberships
A Painter Group of the Middle West (1921-22)
All-Illinois Society of Fine Arts
Chicago Artists Guild, 1917
Chicago Galleries Association
Chicago Art Students’ League
Chicago’s Association of Painters & Sculptors
Arts Club of Chicago [founded 1916]
North Shore Art Association (Gloucester, MA)
National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors
New York Watercolor Club
Rockport Art Association (1925)
Tri-City Art League (Davenport, IA-Rock Island, IL-Moline, IL)
Arts Club (Davenport, IA)
Colleagues (partial list)
Karl Buehr
Henry B. Snell
Walter Schofield
Edward Redfield
Jane Peterson
Pauline Palmer
Tunis Ponsen
Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 1922, group: Marian T. Macintosh, Cora S. Brooks, Isabel Branson Cartwright, Lesley Jackson, Emma Mendenhall, & Althea Hill Platt
Exhibited Names & Signatures
Irma Kohn (before 1926)
Irma Roen (circa 1923-25)
René Koen
Irma René Koen (1926 and after)
Irma René (very late watercolors & paintings created in Mexico, circa 1960s-70s)
© Copyright Cynthia Wiedemann Empen, compiled research and essay/text content
Irma René Koen 