Mark Cohen (born August 24, 1943) is an American photographer best known for his innovative close-up street photography.^[1][2]

Cohen's major books of photography are Grim Street (2005), True Color (2007), and Mexico (2016). His work was first exhibited in a group exhibition at George Eastman House in 1969 and he had his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1973.^[3] He was awarded Guggenheim Fellowships in 1971 and 1976.^[4] and received a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1975.^[5]

Life and work

Cohen was born and lived in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania until 2013. He attended Penn State University and Wilkes College between 1961 and 1965, and opened a commercial photo studio in 1966.^[6]

The majority of the photography for which Cohen is known is shot in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area (also known as the Wyoming Valley), a historic industrialized region of northeastern Pennsylvania. Characteristically Cohen photographs people close-up, using a wide-angle lens and a flash, mostly in black and white, frequently cropping their heads from the frame, concentrating on small details.^[7] He has used 21 mm, 28 mm and 35 mm focal length, wide-angle, lenses and later on 50 mm.^[8] Cohen has described his method as 'intrusive';^[9] "They're not easy pictures. But I guess that's why they're mine."^[10]

Discussing his influences with Thomas Southall in 2004^[9] he cites ". . . so many photographers who followed Cartier-Bresson, like Frank, Koudelka, Winogrand, Friedlander." He also recognizes the influence of Diane Arbus.^[10] Whilst acknowledging these influences he says: "I knew about art photography...Then I did these outside the context of any other photographer."^[10]

In 2013 Cohen moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[8]

Publications

Books by Cohen

• Mark Cohen, Photographer: A Monograph. 1980. 38 pp. OCLC 14157788.^[11]
• Mark Cohen: October 10 – December 13, 1981. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1981. 24 pp. OCLC 8793002.
• Images: A Photographic Essay of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Avoca, PA: Economic Development Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1982. 58 pp. OCLC 40750751.
• Five Minutes in Mexico: Photographs. Wilkes-Barre, PA: Sordoni Art Gallery, 1989. 71 pp. ISBN 0-942945-00-X.
• Grim Street. New York: powerHouse, 2005. ISBN 1-57687-230-0.
• True Color. New York: powerHouse, 2007. ISBN 1-57687-372-2. Text by Vince Aletti. Work in colour originating as a commission from George Eastman House.
• Italian Riviera. Rome: Punctum, 2008. ISBN 978-8-895410-16-6. Edition of 40 copies. Made along the Levante Riviera, during his stay in Rapallo, Liguria.
• Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence. Self-published / CreateSpace, 2012. ISBN 978-1456563738. Catalogue of the exhibition Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, January 2010 to March 2011, curated by Peter Barbiere.
• Dark Knees. Paris: Xavier Barral, 2013. ISBN 978-2-365110-42-6. "Wilkes-Barre and around Pennsylvania 1969–2012". "Published on the occasion of the exhibition Mark Cohen Dark Knees at [Le Bal] in Paris between September 27 and December 8, 2013 and at the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam between November 8, 2014 and January 11, 2015."
• Frame: a Retrospective. Austin: University of Texas, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4773-0372-6. With an introduction by Jane Livingston.
• Mexico. Austin: University of Texas, 2016. ISBN 978-1-4773-1171-4.
• Bread in Snow. Tokyo: Super Labo, 2019. ISBN 978-4-908512-68-1.
• Cotton. Tokyo: Super Labo, 2021. ISBN 978-4-908512-46-9.

Contributions to publications

• Contatti. Provini d'Autore = Choosing the best photo by using the contact sheet. Vol. I. Edited by Giammaria De Gasperis. Rome: Postcart, 2012. ISBN 978-88-86795-87-6.

Books about Cohen

• Wonders Seen in Forsaken Places: An essay on the photographs and the process of photography of Mark Cohen by Alphonso Lingis. Self-published / CreateSpace, 2010. ISBN 978-1442180536.

Awards

• 1971: Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation^[4]
• 1975: National Endowment for the Arts grant^[5]
• 1976: Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation^{[citation needed]}

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• 1962: Pennsylvania State University, University Park^{[citation needed]}
• 1965: Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania^{[citation needed]}
• 1967: Spanish National Tourist Office, New York City^{[citation needed]}
• 1973: Photographs by Mark Cohen, Museum of Modern Art, New York City^[1][12]
• 1975: Art Institute of Chicago^[13]
• 2010/2011: Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence, Philadelphia Museum of Art^[14]
• 2013: Mark Cohen: Italian Riviera, 2008, Maslow Collection at Marywood University, Scranton, PA^[15]
• 2013: Dark Knees (1969–2012), Le Bal, Paris^[16]
• 2014: Mark Cohen, Danziger Gallery, New York^[8]
• 2014/2015: Dark Knees, Netherlands Photo Museum, Rotterdam^[17]

Group exhibitions

• 1969: Vision and Expression, George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Organised by Nathan Lyons.^[18][19]
• 1978: Mirrors and Windows: American Photography Since 1960, Museum of Modern Art, New York City^[1]

Collections

Cohen's work is held in the following permanent collections:

• Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago^[4]
• Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.^[4]
• Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA^[4]
• George Eastman House, Rochester, New York^[20]
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City^[21]
• Musee de la Photographie, Belgium^[4]
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston^[4]
• Museum of Modern Art, New York City^[4]
• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia^[4]
• The Polaroid Collection, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA^[4]
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London^[3]
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City: 4 prints^[22]