THE GROTESQUE VISIONS OF A GENTEEL ROGUE: FREDERICK E. COHEN’S DETROIT PAINTINGS, 1845 - 1853 by Anastasia Kinigopoulo A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in American Material Culture Spring 2020 © 2020 Anastasia Kinigopoulo All Rights Reserved THE GROTESQUE VISIONS OF A GENTEEL ROGUE: FREDERICK E. COHEN’S DETROIT PAINTINGS, 1845 - 1853 by Anastasia Kinigopoulo Approved: __________________________________________________________ Marie-Stephanie Delamaire, Ph.D. Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: __________________________________________________________ Martin Brückner, Ph.D. Interim Director of the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture Approved: __________________________________________________________ John A. Pelesko, Ph.D. Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Approved: __________________________________________________________ Douglas J. Doren, Ph.D. Interim Vice Provost for Graduate and Professional Education and Dean of the Graduate College ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I extend my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Stephanie Delamaire, for her support and suggestions from the inception of this project to its completion. This study would not have been possible were it not for her unfailing encouragement and input throughout my time at Winterthur. I am so grateful for the many wonderful scholars and curators whom I had the pleasure to meet and work with over the past two years at Winterthur and at the University of Delaware. Numerous individuals were especially helpful throughout my research and writing. Early on, Wendy Bellion’s recommendations for how to approach Great Lakes scholarship were enormously valuable. Ritchie Garrison’s suggestions and thoughts were integral to my early research into Fredeick E. Cohen. Linda Eaton offered invaluable input as I grappled with what I was seeing in Cohen’s work. Zara Anishanslin provided key criticism on parts of this draft and on how to frame the larger questions I was wrestling with. At the Winterthur Library, my thanks go out to Emily Guthrie for her astute suggestions for tracking down design sources and the many excellent talks between the long bouts of research. My thanks, as well, to Sarah Lewis and Linda Magner for their good humor and patience with my endless ILL requests. In their willingness to listen and provide feedback, Catharine Dann Roeber and Tom Guiler never faltered in their kindness, responsiveness, and helpful insight. Tom and Catherine, as well as Emily, Ritchie, Greg Landrey, Josh Lane, and Martin Brückner were the best trip leaders and travel companions one could hope for on the class’s peregrinations to England, the American South, New England, and New iii York City. I am so thankful to have had my classmates, Erin Anderson, Olivia Armandroff, James Kelleher, Joseph Litts, Bethany McGlyn, Elizabeth Palms, and Emily Whitted, with me on these trips and throughout my time at Winterthur. Thank you, too, to Chase Markee and Laura Olds Schmidt for all your assistance throughout these two years in navigating both Winterthur and the University of Delaware. I extend my deepest gratitude for incredible support provided by the Leopold Schepp Foundation during my studies. Their backing made my time here possible, and my visits to say hello to SuzanneClair Guard and Kathy Smith over the course of the past two years were never short of wonderful. My research in Michigan, Ohio, and Chicago would not have been feasible were it not for the support provided by the Delaware Public Humanities Institute, by the College of Arts and Sciences, and by the Winterthur Development Fund. Thank you for believing in this project. WPEAC ‘03 alum Andrew Richmond was key in connecting me with contacts in Ohio early in my research. In Mount Vernon, Ohio, Lois Hanson of Paragraph Books was so kind to share her files on Cohen with me and to introduce me to Marilyn Nagy, who graciously invited me into her home to look at a work by Cohen in her collection. Marilyn was also kind enough to connect me with Mead Weil, at the First Presbyterian Church in Mount Vernon, who generously showed me a portrait in the Church’s collection by Cohen. At Kenyon College, Austin Porter and Robin Goodman took me into the museum’s storage to look at two canvases by the painter. Jim Gibson at the Knox County Historical Society discussed the history of the region and showed me the society’s holdings. In Mansfield, I am iv grateful to Alan Wigton and Jeffrey Mandeville for opening the doors to Oak Hill Cottage and to the Richmond County Museum. At the Detroit Institute of Art, I’d like to thank Benjamin Colman (WPAMC, ‘12) for opening the museum’s curatorial files and for showing me the Cohen paintings in storage. At the Detroit Historical Museum, Jeffrey Demick was instrumental in pulling out the important works held there. Laura Williams, curator at Temple Beth El in Birmingham, assisted me as I looked through Irvine Katz’s files, one of the most important archival sources of biographical information on Cohen. Charles Sable and Aimee Burpee at the Henry Ford Museum generously showed me a work attributed to Cohen by previous scholars as well as the museum’s outstanding collection of American folk art. My profound thanks, too, to Romie Minor at the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library for his patience and assistance as I examined Cohen’s Reading of the Premiums. Former colleagues and friends from the Columbus Museum of Art have been wonderful in their moral support over these past two years. My sincere gratitude goes out to former chief curator of the Columbus Museum of Art, Dominique H. Vasseur, for his kindness and friendship throughout the years. For their willingness to share their love of objects from saltshakers to model totem poles, I’d like to thank Pat Glascock and Michael D. Hall. Many thanks, too, to Drew Sawyer and Clay Flynn, whose company always make my return to New York City a happy one. Finally, I am so thankful for M. Melissa Wolfe’s mentorship, which made all this possible to begin with. My sincere thanks go to Bernard Paniccia, who read an early draft of this project this past fall. v I am so lucky to have had my family behind me during my time at Winterthur. I am deeply appreciative of Judy and Craig Burchett for their help and support through all the years I’ve known them. My love goes out to Tricia and Scott St. Clair and to my wonderful nephews, Nolan and Jude St. Clair. Jude’s arrival into this world has been the silver lining in the historically eventful last months of this project. Finally, words fail to convey my profound gratitude for John J. Burchett, who is my font of strength and inspiration. His wisdom, companionship, humor, advice, patience, encouragement, and love inextricably shaped the scholar I am today. John, thank you for sharing your world with me. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 2 THE POST OFFICE ......................................................................................... 13 3 THE MAYFLOWER ........................................................................................ 33 4 THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AND THE STATE FAIR ................................... 59 5 EPILOGUE ....................................................................................................... 86 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 91 Appendix A COHEN’S SITTERS AND ORIGINAL WORKS ........................................... 97 B SELECTED POEMS AND PROSE BY FREDERICK E. COHEN .............. 111 C CORRESPONDENCE FROM COHEN TO HIS WIFE, MARIA LOUISA COHEN, 1850s ............................................................................................... 126 D IMAGE PERMISSIONS ................................................................................ 135 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Frederick E. Cohen, Sketches from Original Paintings by F.E. Cohen, c. 1850s, Ink on paper, approx. H. 8”, 11 ½”. From Frederick E. Cohen album. (Newberry Library, Chicago. Special Collections.) ........... 6 Figure 2 Frederick E. Cohen and unknown maker. Untitled portrait, c. 1850s. Newspaper clippings and graphite on paper, approx. H. 8”, 11 ½”. From Frederick E. Cohen album. (Newberry Library, Chicago. Special Collections.) ............................................................................................... 7 Figure 3 Frederick E. Cohen, The Home of My Youth. Ink on paper. From Frederick E. Cohen album. (Newberry Library, Chicago. Special Collections.) ............................................................................................... 8 Figure 4 Frederick E. Cohen, Near Old Post Office, Detroit. c. 1852. Oil on canvas mounted on board; H.19 ¾”, W. 23 ¾”. (Detroit Historical Museum.) ................................................................................................. 13 Figure 5 First National Bank and location of Detroit Post Office. From Silas Farmer, The History of Detroit and Michigan: Or, The Metropolis Illustrated (Detroit: S. Farmer and Company, 1889).