The Aviation Art of Gil Cohen

Best known today as one of the leading aviation artists, Gil Cohen is a highly schooled fine arts illustrator, Gil Cohen studied under Henry C. Pitz at the Philadelphia College of Art. In 1955, Cohen served as artist with the SHAEF Headquarters, Military Intelligence U.S. Army in West Germany. His subsequent career as a freelance artist included service to a multitude of clients including the U.S. Information Agency, the National Park Service, Paramount Pictures, Bantam Books, Harlequin Books, Random House, Holt Reinhart Winston, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Coast Guard, Warner-Lambert and Boeing-Sikorsky.

Truly a "gold medal artist" Gil Cohen's exhibitions and awards are numerous. They include the National Military Park system, the Kennedy Center and the Pentagon. He has been awarded gold medals and best of shows by the American Society of Aviation Artists and has received the
certificate of merit from the New York Society of Illustrators, as well as the Franklin Mint Award. Cohen is a member of the Air Force Art Program, the New York Society of Illustrators and serves as Coast Guard Illustrator. As an Artist Fellow Member of the American Society of
Aviation Artists, he has held the position of Vice President and Chairman of the Exhibition Committee.

He also has a great interest in history and aviation which is reflected in much of his work. His vivid interest in the human aspects of the various wars throughout the centuries zeros in on the interactions between men, which eventually have lead to confrontations and successive warring
between peoples and nations. He is continually mystified by the recurring observations that some of the most beautiful mechanisms of engineering, designed by humans, are often created by man for the purpose of war.