Alexis H. Cohen

Position
Ph.D., 2014
Role
Modern
Bio/Description

Profile

With research interests in the intersections between cultural memory, architecture, and design, Alexis has published and presented on topics such as Neoclassicism and industry and memory cultures of the Second World War. Her dissertation, “Lines of Utility: Outlines, Architecture, and Design in Britain c. 1800,” explores the proliferation of the outline drawing in archaeological, architectural, and interior design publications. This project conceptualizes the outline drawing as the visual language of a new critical discourse tied to the emergence of utility as a central topos within neoclassical architecture and design. Alexis’s work has been supported by fellowships from the Yale Centre for British Art, the Huntington Library, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the DAAD, as well as Princeton’s Donald and Mary Hyde Academic Fellowship for Study Abroad.

Alexis holds a B.A. in art history and English literature from the University of Toronto (2006). Prior to beginning her doctoral degree, she gained curatorial and archival experience at the University of Toronto Art Centre, the Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Royal Ontario Museum. Alexis is currently working as an architectural historian for ERA Architects, a Toronto-based firm specializing in heritage conservation.

Selected Publications

Selected Publications

“Domestic Utility and Useful Lines: Jean-Charles Krafft’s and Thomas Hope’s Outlines,” Journal of Art Historiography 9 (December 2013).

“R is for Ruling Pen,” in Ink or “V is for Vermillion as Described by Vitruvius: An A to Z of Ink in Architecture,” Ed. Michelle Fornabai. (Columbia GSAPP Books on Architecture, 2013).

“Memorial Infrastructure: Wilhelm Kreis’ Monuments for the Third Reich,” Pidgin Magazine 12 (Spring 2012).