Myra Cohen

This collection is uncatalogued. The following is an interim description which may be altered when detailed cataloguing takes place in future.

The collection consists of:

70 original artworks on paper (paint, pencil, pastel)

2 folders of 35mm slides of patient’s artworks

Notes on the artworks and some letters and accompanying papers about art therapy and Myra’s professional practice.

In addition, there are three colour photographs of art studios at Mill End Psychiatric Hospital, donated by the final custodian of the collection, Chris Brown (photographs not taken / collected by Myra Cohen, but instead acquired for additional context). The photos include views of the art therapy department and side room where therapist and patient would have sessions.

The artworks were created by in-patients at Hill End Psychiatric Hospital (St Albans, Hertfordshire). Artworks were generally produced over a period of a few months while the patient was undergoing art therapy sessions with Myra Cohen, and are mostly grouped together by the creator's name.

The works are generally numbered, with corresponding notes / interpretation of the work written on the verso / recto of the work or on accompanying notes or in the two accompanying notebooks. There are also notes from Myra Cohen relating to individual artworks, commenting on their symbolism / providing clinical commentary, as well as verbatim quotes from patients talking about their art. These quotes are often added directly to the painting itself or on the mounting paper by Myra Cohen.

Attempts have been made (presumably by Myra Cohen) to obscure names of patients written on the works, but the names are often still visible. Similarly, notes often use patient names but some notes are rewritten with pseudonyms (e.g. Patient A).

The slides include copies of the original paintings, but predominantly feature paintings where the originals have not survived, which are also referred to in corresponding numbered comments within Myra’s notebooks. Some of these are from unknown, uncredited or anonymous creators.

1960s-1980s

9 folders

Myra Cohen (1923 – 2005) was an artist who worked as an art therapist in the early days of art therapy, having trained as the profession was in its infancy.

Myra is thought to have attended a certificated course at vocational level provided by St Albans School of Art as a pilot course in 1969. St Albans was one of the first to offer courses in art therapy (this is where Joy Schaverien taught).

Myra Cohen then worked as an art therapist at Hill End Psychiatric Hospital, St Albans, Hertfordshire from 1968 to 1986. The hospital had a dedicated art studio, where works were created during therapeutic sessions; some of these artworks were also displayed within the hospital, with the corridors used as an art gallery.

Myra Cohen used examples of patient artworks in teaching and education, as case studies and to demonstrate the value of art therapy. Myra also participated in the seminal exhibition ‘Inner Eye: Exhibition of Work Made in Psychiatric Hospitals’, Museum of Modern Art Oxford 1978, which explored the art in art therapy, and included the display of patient artworks created at Hill End.

Myra retired from Hill End Hospital in 1986, and the Art Therapy Department was subsequently run by Katherine Killick. The hospital closed in 1995, following declining patient numbers and the introduction of Care in the Community. Following the hospital’s closure, the art therapy unit from Hill End was moved into a community setting where they shared a building with Dramatherapy and a day centre. Some of the patient artwork from Hill End was displayed on the walls of the dedicated art therapy studio.

Transferred to Wellcome.

This collection is currently uncatalogued and cannot be ordered online. Requests to view uncatalogued material are considered on a case by case basis. Please contact collections@wellcomecollection.org for more details.

No appraisal has taken place; the collection was presumably curated into its current form by Myra Cohen from a larger body of art therapy works, which are not believed to have survived.

None expected

This small collection of art therapy works and related papers was assembled by Art Therapist, Myra Cohen, during her time working at Hill End Psychiatric Hospital, St Albans. It seems likely that the material was assembled from a larger mass of art therapy paintings and primarily used for education and training purposes, as evidenced by the accompanying correspondence, the photocopied and typed up notes accompanying paintings, and the attempts to conceal names (presumably to protect identities during exhibition / lectures). Some artworks show signs of having been displayed.

Myra Cohen gave the collection to Philippa Brown who was then course leader for the MA Art Therapy at the University of Hertfordshire. Some years later, Philippa passed the collection to Chris Brown [no relation] because of his interest in the subject matter, and in case Chris could find a long term home for the material. Chris used that material as a vignette in a chapter for the book Contemporary Practice in Studio Art Therapy titled ‘Reliquary for the departed: Archiving and collections’ to explore issues around the disposal of images left behind when art therapy ends. The collection was stored in his London home before being transferred to Wellcome in November 2023.