Jean-Louis Cohen was a living encyclopedia, at one time avid for knowledge, especially knowledgeable about the work of Le Corbusier, Russian Constructivism, and Frank O. Gehry, among others, and one of the fundamental references in the defense of modern heritage.
Cohen was born in postwar Paris in 1949. He trained as an architect at the École Spéciale d'Architecture, Département Pédagogique no. 6, and Architect DPLG, from Paris. In 1985, Cohen earned his doctorate in art history from the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.
After directing the Architectural Research Program of the French Ministry of Housing from 1983 to 1996, he taught as a researcher at the Paris-Villemin School of Architecture and held the chair of the History of Urban Planning at the Institut Français d'Urbanisme, at the University of Paris, from 1996 to 2004. In 1994 he joined New York University as the Sheldon H. Solow Professor of Architectural History.
Among his best-known books are the monographs on Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe or books such as: «Building a New New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture» (2020), «Frank Gehry; Catalog Raisonné of the Drawings; Volume One, 1954-1978» (2020), «Le Corbusier: an Atlas of Modern Landscapes» (2013), «The future of architecture since 1889» (2013), «Architecture in Uniform; Designing and Building for WWII »(2011),« Mies van der Rohe »(2007) and « Casablanca, Colonial Myths and Architectural Ventures »(which he co-authored with his ex-wife Monique Eleb, who died in May).
He curated different exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Canadian Center for Architecture, the Center Georges Pompidou, the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, and at the MAXXI, which dealt with topics ranging from Soviet constructivism, the radical Italian architect Bruno Zevi, the work of Oscar Niemeyer in Brazil, Modernity in the world and in France, or curator of the French pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale.
He was recently inaugurated as a curator, in the company of the Brazilian researcher Vanessa Grossman, the exhibition Constructed Geographies: Paulo Mendes da Rocha, inaugurated in May at the Casa da Arquitectura de Portugal.
Cohen was born in postwar Paris in 1949. He trained as an architect at the École Spéciale d'Architecture, Département Pédagogique no. 6, and Architect DPLG, from Paris. In 1985, Cohen earned his doctorate in art history from the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.
After directing the Architectural Research Program of the French Ministry of Housing from 1983 to 1996, he taught as a researcher at the Paris-Villemin School of Architecture and held the chair of the History of Urban Planning at the Institut Français d'Urbanisme, at the University of Paris, from 1996 to 2004. In 1994 he joined New York University as the Sheldon H. Solow Professor of Architectural History.
Among his best-known books are the monographs on Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe or books such as: «Building a New New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture» (2020), «Frank Gehry; Catalog Raisonné of the Drawings; Volume One, 1954-1978» (2020), «Le Corbusier: an Atlas of Modern Landscapes» (2013), «The future of architecture since 1889» (2013), «Architecture in Uniform; Designing and Building for WWII »(2011),« Mies van der Rohe »(2007) and « Casablanca, Colonial Myths and Architectural Ventures »(which he co-authored with his ex-wife Monique Eleb, who died in May).
He curated different exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Canadian Center for Architecture, the Center Georges Pompidou, the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, and at the MAXXI, which dealt with topics ranging from Soviet constructivism, the radical Italian architect Bruno Zevi, the work of Oscar Niemeyer in Brazil, Modernity in the world and in France, or curator of the French pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale.
He was recently inaugurated as a curator, in the company of the Brazilian researcher Vanessa Grossman, the exhibition Constructed Geographies: Paulo Mendes da Rocha, inaugurated in May at the Casa da Arquitectura de Portugal.
