Constance Cochrane  (1888   -   1962)  Works

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Constance Cochrane (1888 - 1962)

Constance Cochrane was born in Pensacola, Florida, at the United States Navy Yard in 1888. As the daughter of a Marine Corps Brigadier General, coming from a long lineage of naval ancestry, she had adopted a love of the sea at an early age.

Cochrane began painting at age six and after high school enrolled at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women under Elliott Daingerfield and Henry B. Snell.

Always interested in helping to promote women artists, Cochrane became one of the founding members of “The Philadelphia Ten” in 1917, and remained a significant part of this group until its end in 1945.

Cochrane resided in Darby, Pennsylvania, where she kept a studio at the family home called “Brywood”. She began visiting Monhegan Island in 1921 and returned every summer thereafter. Eventually with the help of her mother, Elizabeth Lull Cochrane, Constance purchased a property and built a home and studio on Monhegan to be known as “Anchor Ledge”.

In 1926, at the age of sixty, Elizabeth Lull Cochrane, seeing the apparent need for frames for her daughter’s artwork, would learn the art of frame-making. Mastering this craft quickly, Elizabeth would make high quality hand-carved frames to embellish her daughter’s paintings.

Constance Cochrane was an extremely versatile painter and was best known for her realistic rendering of crashing waves and surf, as well as for her vibrant glowing still lifes.

Cochrane exhibited extensively throughout her career and garnered many awards. She remained a devoted advocate in the promotion of women’s involvement in the arts.

 

Sources:

  • New Hope for American Art by James Alterman
  • The Philadelphia Ten, Talbott and Sydney, 1998