Page 12 - Bonhams Catalog Cohen and Cohen Jan 24, 2023 New York

Michael and Ewa Cohen at their Surrey home, 2022

The Cohen & Cohen Team: Michael and Ewa Cohen & Will Motley

Whilst Bonhams is delighted to be given the opportunity to present Put simply, Michael and Ewa decided to buy as collectors rather than
these remarkable objects from Cohen & Cohen, I am personally dealers. Profit was not to be the sole motive; rather, they would only
honoured, after almost forty years of friendship with Michael and buy pieces that excited them. They were driven in their search by three
thirty with Ewa, to be able to play a part in the sale of this magnificent standards: exceptional quality, rarity, and historic interest—preferably all
offering of exceptional—and often unique—examples of the finest three together.
Chinese export porcelains available on the market today. Colin
Sheaf and William Sargent, in their introductions to this catalogue, Ewa encouraged a move to the more prestigious Kensington Church
have amply described the breadth and depth of the ceramics in this Street soon after their partnership was formed, and advocated for
auction as well as Michael and Ewa’s knowledge in the field; however, participation in the various English, European and United States
it is incumbent upon me to acknowledge the extraordinary and Art Fairs, which included Grosvenor House, TEFAF Maastricht,
consummate research skills that Will Motley has brought to the field. Masterpiece, The New York Ceramics Fair, and The Winter Show.
In particular, we are grateful that Will has allowed us to liberally use his Michael was invited to take part in the vetting of ‘Chinese and
research in our footnotes to this catalogue. Japanese Art’ at all these shows (and a number of others at which
they did not exhibit). In July 2013, having sat on its council for several
One little-known fact about Michael Cohen is that he gained a degree years, Michael was appointed Chairman of the BADA in 2013, a post
in the field of genetics—a tangential twist in his career, given his he subsequently held for nearly eight years. He is the longest serving
success in the ‘Armorial’ field—and briefly experimented with a life in chairman in the history of the association.
academia, researching and lecturing at The University of East Anglia.
However, in 1973, his career completely changed direction when After several years on Kensington Church Street, the company was
Michael chose to follow his long-held interest in antiques. With his invited to exhibit at Partridge on Bond Street, which eventually led to
partner (and later, first wife) Rosemary Pearce, he opened a decorative an offer of permanent gallery space. Cohen and Cohen remained in
antiques stall on Portobello Road, in the Notting Hill Gate area of London’s West End thereafter, moving from Bond Street to Jermyn
West London—the world’s largest street market, famed for its antique Street and finally to St James’s Place.
stores.
Ewa Cohen was born and spent her childhood in Warsaw, Poland.
Their success led to expansion, and the purchase of a gallery at the In her early teens, Ewa drew attention from a filmmaker who saw
top end of Portobello Road where the ‘serious’ dealers held their something beguiling in her looks and personality and cast her in a
premises. Having garnered expertise and renown in the field, Michael major role in the Polish film I ty będziesz Indianinem (You can be an
was then admitted to the BADA (British Antique Dealers Association) Indian), an adaptation of famous children’s book by Wictor Woroszylski.
in 1984. Michael and Rosemary divorced amicably in 1990, and in This kickstarted Ewa’s successful career as a film actor and presenter
1994 Michael married Ewa, already a dealer in Asian art, and the of children’s television. During this period, she also studied law at
business became ‘Cohen & Cohen’. It was at this time they formulated Warsaw University, where she became involved in student politics and
their philosophy of buying, from which they have not wavered since. played a part in the student-led Spring Rebellion of 1968.