Cornelia (Brendel) Foss (born 1931) is an American artist and teacher. Her work is in the permanent collections of The National Portrait Gallery, The Houston Museum of Art, The Guild Hall Museum, The Brooklyn Museum, The Wichita Art Museum, The Museum of Oklahoma, The Burchfield Penney Art Center, The National Museum of Women in the Arts and The Huntington Museum.

Early life and education

Cornelia Brendel was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany to art historian and archeologist parents, Otto Brendel and Maria Weigert Brendel. She immigrated to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

with her mother in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution. Her father had preceded them to St. Louis. She studied literature at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

and art history at the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

Career

Foss, a painter, maintains studios in New York, NY and Bridgehampton, NY. Her work is in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, The Houston Museum of Art,

Guild Hall of East Hampton Guild Hall of East Hampton in the incorporated Village of East Hampton on Long Island's East End, is one of the United States' first multidisciplinary cultural institutions. Opened in 1931, it was designed by architect Aymar Embury II and inclu ...

, The Brooklyn Museum, The Wichita Art Museum, The Museum of Oklahoma, The Burchfield Penney Art Center, The National Museum of Women in the Arts and The Huntington Museum. She was elected as a member of the National Academy of the Arts in 2009. Foss teaches painting at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

Personal life

In 1951, Brendel married musician and composer,

Lukas Foss Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Career Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with J ...

. They had two children, Christopher Brendel Foss, who became a documentary filmmaker and corporate consultant on social and environmental engagement/sustainability communications, and Eliza Foss Topol, an actress. The couple were separated from 1968 to 1972. During this time, Foss moved with her children to Toronto to be closer to her lover, pianist

Glenn Gould Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; 25 September 19324 October 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was among the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian ...

. The story of the affair was featured in the 2009 documentary. ''Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould.'' Foss returned to New York and her husband in 1972. They remained married until his death in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foss, Cornelia Living people 1931 births Art Students League of New York faculty 21st-century American women painters 21st-century American painters American women academics