Ola Cohn
| Ola Cohn | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Carola Cohn 25 April 1892 Bendigo, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 23 December 1964 (aged 72) Cowes, Victoria, Australia |
| Education | Swinburne Technical College, Royal College of Art in London under Ernest Cole and Henry Moore |
| Known for | Sculpture |
| Notable work | Fairies' Tree, Head of a Virgin, Abraham, statue in Adelaide Pioneer Women's Garden |
| Movement | Modernist |
| Awards | Crouch Prize (1952), MBE |
Ola Cohn (born Carola Cohn; 25 April 1892 – 23 December 1964) was an Australian artist, author and philanthropist best known for her work in sculpture in a modernist style and famous for her Fairies Tree in the Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne.
Cohn was born in Bendigo, Victoria. She went to school at Girton College in Bendigo and then studied drawing and sculpture at the Bendigo School of Mines. She continued her studies in Melbourne at Swinburne Technical College and then at the Royal College of Art in London. On her return to Melbourne in 1930 she established a studio at Grosvenor Chambers (9 Collins Street, Melbourne) (subsequently occupied by Georges and Mirka Mora), and later moving to Gipps Street, East Melbourne.
Cohn's works in bronze, stone and wood are held in many state and regional galleries. Important works include:
The Fairies Tree work also inspired her writing and publication of The Fairies' Tree (1932), More about the Fairies' Tree (1933) and Castles in the Air (1936). Her book Mostly Cats was published in 1964. In 2014 her autobiography was published; A Way with the Fairies: The Lost Story of Sculptor Ola Cohn.
She was President of the Melbourne Society of Women Painters and Sculptors from 1948 to 1964, a founding member of the Australian Sculptors Society and an active member of the Victorian Artists' Society, the Victorian Sculptors' Society and Melbourne Contemporary Artists.
Through her membership of artists' and sculptors' societies Ola Cohn gave lectures and demonstrations to make sculpture more accessible to the public. Private instruction in sculpture was given from her studio in East Melbourne which became an important centre for artists. During the Second World War she gave recreational sculpture lessons for soldiers.
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