Architect, critic, and curator Jean-Louis Cohen passed away at the age of 74 yesterday, August 7. Recognized for his extensive research in the field of modern architecture and urban planning, he held the Sheldon H. Solow Chair of Architectural History at New York University since 1994.
Cohen served as a curator for various prestigious exhibitions, including some held at the Museum of Modern Art, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, and the MAXXI. More recently, alongside Brazilian researcher Vanessa Grossman, he curated the exhibition "Geografias Construídas: Paulo Mendes da Rocha," which opened in May at the Casa da Arquitectura in Portugal.
Among his extensive literary production, notable books include "Building a New New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture" (2020), "Frank Gehry; Catalogue Raisonné of the Drawings; Volume One, 1954-1978" (2020), "Le Corbusier: an Atlas of Modern Landscapes" (2013), "O futuro da arquitetura desde 1889" (2013), "Architecture in Uniform; Designing and Building for WWII" (2011), "Mies van der Rohe" (2007), and "Casablanca, Colonial Myths and Architectural Ventures" (with Monique Eleb, 2002).
Born in Paris in 1949, Cohen studied architecture at École Spéciale d'Architecture and Unité Pédagogique n° 6. He completed his doctorate in Art History at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in 1985. 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 Urban Planning History at the Institut Français d'Urbanisme at the University of Paris from 1996 to 2004.
In 1998, he led the development of the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, which opened in 2007. As a curator, he organized notable exhibitions such as "The Lost Vanguard" at the Museum of Modern Art (2007), "Architecture in Uniform" at the Canadian Centre for Architecture (1995, 2011), and "Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2013). Additionally, he served as curator of the French Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Biennale.
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