Jean-Louis Cohen fonds
1968 - 2023
Fonds
The Jean-Louis Cohen fonds, 1968 - 2023, documents Cohen’s activities as a historian, curator, professor, and architect.
The fonds consists of physical and digital records generated through Cohen’s work as historian and curator from 1971 - 2023. These records encompass both realized and unrealized projects, such research programs, exhibitions, and publications. The records largely consist of draft texts, notes, research and reference materials, proposals, reports, correspondence, exhibition planning records, drawings, and photographic materials. Additionally, the fonds contains records connected to articles, contributions to collective works, and research reports written by Cohen. Further, the fonds documents Cohen’s organization of, and participation in, conferences and colloquia at institutions throughout Europe, the United States, and Canada. Note that Cohen’s work on a given subject is rarely contained within one project or activity – he explored themes, subjects, and ideas through various outputs, including related articles, conferences, publications, and exhibitions over several years (see the related records notes at the lower levels of this finding aid for details). Apart from materials related to specific projects and activities, this fonds also contains research and reference materials on various topics collected by Cohen over the course of his career.
Cohen’s teaching activities are also represented within the fonds. His teaching records, largely dating from the early-1980s to 2010s, include lecture notes, syllabi, and research materials for the courses that he taught at universities in Europe and the United States. The fonds further includes copies of dissertations and theses that Cohen supervised or evaluated over the course of his teaching career. In addition, the fonds includes records from Cohen’s own academic work at the Unité Pédagogique d’Architecture n° 6 and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris, France from 1973 – 1992.
Cohen’s work as an architect in France from 1976-1993 is also documented in this fonds. The records largely consist of drawings, presentation material, and reports connected to urban development, landscape, and restoration projects in Villejuif, Reims, Le Blanc-Mesnil, and Paris.
The fonds also includes records from Cohen’s positions at institutes and museums in France from the early-1970s to early-2000s, including the Institut français d'architecture (IFA) and the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine à Chaillot. The fonds further documents Cohen’s involvement in organisations and committees concerned with heritage preservation, architectural research, and urban planning.
In addition to correspondence related to specific projects, courses, and professional activities, the fonds also includes Cohen’s general correspondence organized by year from 1976 -2011 as well as his annual planners from 1971 – 2003.
Finally, note that the preceding paragraphs in this note describe the processed materials within this fonds. There is also roughly 340 GB of unprocessed digital materials that are also part of this fonds. These unprocessed materials are divided into the following folders:
- Courrier JLC 1987-200x, which includes correspondence from 1987 to 2019
- CV & Biblios JLC, which includes copies of Cohen’s CVs and bibliographies
- Enseignement JLC, which Includes Cohen’s teaching records
- Icono cours recherche, which includes images collected and created by Cohen for research/reference purposes
- Institutions x JLC, which includes records from Cohen’s involvement in institutions and organisations
- Livres expos films etc. 1987 – 200x. The project files in this folder have been processed, but general research subfolders remain
- Recherches manuscripts hors enseignements, which includes research materials
- Photos voyages (2005-2017), which includes images taken by Cohen while travelling, organized by geographic location
Due to the way the digital files in the 2023 donation were transferred onto their hard drive, many file titles contained extra unicode character symbols. these characters were removed by the processing archivist as part of the digital preservation process. further, extensions were added to any files with missing file extensions based on pronom recommendations. these actions may have resulted in inaccurate timestamps for some folders within the digital files; however, the timestamps of individual documents have not been changed. unfortunately, the cca’s digital preservation tools require the transliteration of non-latin scripts in file titles. users can access the original file titles through the file tree in the metadata folder of the aip.
The fonds is composed of physical and digital records from donations received between 2019 and 2025, which have been arranged into six series:
AP210.S1. Publication, curation, and research
AP210.S2. Research and reference materials
AP210.S3. Education and teaching
AP210.S4. Professional activities
AP210.S5. Correspondence and agendas
AP210.S6. Architectural projects
This arrangement attempts to broadly reflect the way in Cohen categorised and labelled his records. The original order of the records has been preserved except in specific cases, see lower-level arrangement notes for more information.
Jean-Louis Cohen (July 20, 1949 – August 7, 2023) was a historian, curator, professor, and architect. While his research interests were wide-ranging, his work was primarily concerned with modern architecture and transnational architectural exchange, particularly between and among the United States, Europe, and the former Soviet Union in the 20th century.
Born in Paris, France, Cohen obtained his architecture degree (Architecte diplômé par le gouvernement) in 1973 from the Unité Pédagogique d’Architecture n°6 in Paris (known as l’École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Paris-La Villette at time of writing this finding aid) [1]. He continued his studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris, where he received his Diplôme d’Études Approfondies (DEA) in 1982, doctorate degree in 1985, and Habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR) in 1992.
During his fifty-year career, Cohen published more than 60 books, led more than 12 research programs, wrote over 250 articles, organised or participated in dozens of conferences, and contributed to numerous collective works and catalogues. Among his publications and research programs are: “La coupure entre architectes et intellectuels, ou les enseignements de l'italophilie” (1976 – 1980); Le Corbusier et la mystique de l'URSS, théories et projets pour Moscou 1928-1936 (1987); “Les relations franco-allemandes 1940-1950 et leurs effets sur l'architecture et la forme urbaine” with Hartmut Frank (1986 - 1989); Des fortifs au périf, Paris, les seuils de la ville with André Lortie (1992); Américanisme et modernité, l'idéal américain dans l'architecture ed., with Hubert Damisch (1993); Casablanca: mythes et figures d'une aventure urbaine with Monique Eleb (1998); Architecture en uniforme ; projeter et construire pour la seconde guerre mondiale (2011); L’architecture au futur depuis 1889 (2012); Frank Gehry, Catalogue Raisonné of the Drawings (2020); and Building a new New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture (2020). Cohen and Monique Eleb (1945 – 2023), a professor of psychology and sociology as well as an architectural scholar, were married for a time and collaborated on several books, research programs, and articles together.
Cohen also curated dozens of exhibitions at museums and institutes across Europe, in Morocco, the United States, Canada, and China. Selected exhibitions include: Scènes de la vie future : l'architecture européenne et la tentation de l'Amérique, 1893-1960 (1995); Casablanca, naissance d'une ville moderne en sol africain with Monique Eleb (1999); The Lost Vanguard: Soviet Modernist architecture, 1922 – 1932 (2007); Interférences / Interferenzen : architecture – Allemagne – France with Hartmut Frank (2013); and Paris Moderne 1914-1945: Architecture, Design, Film with Pascal Mory and Catherine Örmen (2023).
Cohen’s teaching appointments included positions at the École d'Architecture Paris-Villemin (1983-1996), the Institut français d'urbanisme, Université de Paris 8 (1996 – 2005), Princeton University (2006 – 2023); and the Collège de France (2014 – 2021). From 1994 until his passing in 2023, Cohen was the Sheldon H. Solow Professor in the History of Architecture at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. As part of his teaching activities, Cohen supervised dozens of doctoral dissertations and HDR theses at universities throughout Europe and the United States.
Additionally, Cohen held positions and undertook projects at institutes, government ministries, universities, and museums across Europe, the United States, and Canada. In France, Cohen was at the Institut de l'Environnement in Paris from 1973-1976. He later served as the head of the Secrétariat de la Recherche Architecturale (SRA) for the French ministère de l’Urbanisme et du Logement from 1979 – 1982. From 1998 – 2003, Cohen was simultaneously director of the Institut français d’architecture (1998 – 2003) and the Musée des monuments français (1999 – 2003). During this time, he was also responsible for the creation of the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine, an architecture museum in Paris which opened in 2007.
Cohen also served on the boards of several publishers and organisations, including Casabella, the Fondation Le Corbusier, the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), and the CCA among others. At the CCA, Cohen served on the Comité de selection du Centre d’étude from 1997 -2005, was part of the Conseil d’administration from 1998 – 2014 and was part of the Comité des programmes et des archives from 2008 until his passing (he served as president of this committee in 2014).
In addition to his research, writing, curatorial work, and teaching, Cohen also practiced architecture. He led, or was involved in, several architectural projects, many of which were related to heritage preservation efforts in France and Morocco.
Reference:
[1]. L’école en un clic. (n.d.). L'École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-La Villette (ENSAPLV). Retrieved August 26, 2025 from https://www.paris-lavillette.archi.fr/lecole-en-un-clic/
Prior to being donated to the CCA, the records in Cohen’s 2019 donations, were stored at his home in Ardèche, France.
After Cohen’s death in 2023, the CCA received donations from his family in 2023, 2024, and 2025. The 2023 and 2025 donations came from his homes in Paris and Ardèche in France and were packed by family members and the CCA’s Director of Collections, Martien de Vletter. The 2024 donation came from Cohen’s apartment in New York City, USA and his office at the Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) at New York University. These records were packed by a family member and the CCA’s Curator of Books Viveca Pattison Robichaud.
When citing the collection as a whole, use the citation:
Jean Louis Cohen fonds
Collection Centre Canadien d’Architecture /
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal.
When citing specific collection material, please refer to the object’s specific credit line.
French, English, Italian, German, Russian
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