Cornelia Foss is renowned for her expressive landscapes, intimate portraits, and still lifes. Born in Berlin in 1931, she spent her early years in Rome before emigrating to the United States in 1939. She would later study art at the University of Rome and then at the Kann Art Institute in Los Angeles under Rico Lebrun and Howard Warshaw .
Foss has remained a prominent figure in the New York art scene, teaching at the Art Students League of New York and the National Academy of Design, where she was elected a member in 2009. Across her long and successful career, Foss’s work has been featured in over 130 solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including at institutions like the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Brooklyn Museum, New York; and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Her work is characterized by a painterly realism that captures the light and atmosphere of Long Island's East End. In 2015, Skira/Rizzoli published the book Cornelia Foss: A Retrospective, offering a comprehensive survey of her work. Foss continues to live and work in New York City and Bridgehampton, maintaining studios in both places.
