More of my grandmother's semi-abstract and abstract paintings will be added to this page. She could also draw beautifully. Her early paintings were realistic. She graduated from Moore College of Art in the 1920s. Mildred Charlap was a far better painter than her over-thinking friend, Leon Kelly, but like every member of my family, she was too humble, and turned down invitations to exhibit her paintings.
After the love of her life, my grandfather Herbert Cohen, died of a sudden heart attack in 1970 when my grandmother was in her 60s, she painted into her 80s in her apartment across the street from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and never dated another man. She also drove to York, PA frequently to see her children and grandchildren, and I regularly visited her in Philadelphia.
My talented and sophisticated artist-grandmother saw slides of all of my art, including my Whitney Museum Program Show. She was impressed. My grandmother, Modernist Painter Mildren Charlap Cohen, never had the delusional "thought" that her granddaughter or my art was wild. She knew, without me having to explain, that the explitic imagery in my early paintings and multi-media art was symbolism — not to be taken literally — not my real life.
Mildred Charlap Cohen passed away, peacefully, in her 90s.
Mildred Charlap was visual, musical and stylish. She was the aunt of Composer Moose Charlap, my first cousin (once removed). My great uncle Harold was Moose's dad. The monochrome news photos are not accurate: My grandfather, Herbert Cohen, had pale blue eyes. My grandmother, Mildred Charlap, had auburn hair and green eyes. Moose had blue eyes.
