Cornelia Foss Little Red
Foreword
Eighty-six years ago, at just nine years old, Cornelia Foss found herself running for her life on a crowded train platform, desperately searching for her mother as the train pulled out. They were fleeing Nazi Germany days before Hitler would invade Poland. Having effectively suppressed her own Jewish heritage to that point, Cornelia’s mother, Maria Brendel (née Weigert), secured passage on a steamer out of Belgium to reunite with Cornelia’s Christian father Otto Brendel, already in America for work. But getting out of Germany was the hardest part. Though Cornelia was too young to fully comprehend the daring stakes of that journey, the intense fear of being lost in a crowd of Nazi soldiers with mere seconds to find her mother while their train pulled away was indelibly imprinted on her psyche.
For the rest of her life, Foss has kept the trauma of that time out of view. But now, in the late phase of a long and successful career as “a painter’s painter,” she has chosen to process those emotions using the children’s story of Little Red Riding Hood as an ideal metaphor for the conflict of good versus evil she experienced first-hand many years ago. In a series of paintings she calls her “Little Reds,” the artist relives the terror of those moments: the separation from her mother, the soldiers’ barking dogs, the crowd of anxious strangers, the urgent panic of being left behind.
These works are not like anything else Foss has painted. They are far from the serenity of her beloved Long Island beach scenes and gardens. Nor are they the charming portraits of her friends and family glowing with the warmth of familiarity. The Little Reds feature a darker tone and more agitated brushstroke. Their surfaces are full of tension and uncertainty; their palette stark, contrasting, even harsh at times. You will not find harmony or safety in these images, no place to rest your eye or get your bearings. The paintings express simultaneously the visceral sense of fear and preternatural courage that make up the human condition. They come from deep inside an artist finally grappling with her unreconciled past.
But they also deliver a message that should jolt us out of complacency. Now facing our own era of rising, unchecked power, the Little Reds speak not just to the personal realm of the artist—they cry out to all of us.
TH OM AS B. PARKER Director, Hirschl & Adler Mod ern
My Escape
by Cornelia Foss
One morning in Berlin in late August, 1939, I came out of my bedroom—having been washed and dressed in one of my pretty Liberty-print dresses by our factotum Agnes (she had also fed my precious fish in their beautiful large tank, as well as picking up my fancy dolls and large Steiff bear from the floor and cleaning it all up to perfection)—when I saw my mother looking even more perturbed than usual. She was sipping her coffee at the small table with the telephone in her hand saying in an irritated voice, “But you’re my lawyer! Tell me what this horrible new edict means!!!”
“It means,” a male voice answered, “that you must give the ticket back because you are from a country at war and would spoil the neutrality of the Dutch boat as the Dutch are not at war.” “Are you saying that I must give back my tickets for the Volendam—the boat to America??” “Exactly,” the male voice continued. “I also council you to ignore this and to leave as fast as you can!!”
“Go for heaven’s sake—go!” he shouted into the phone and added, “God help you!!” as he hung up. At this my mother
Untitled
in Landscape]
Oil on canvas
60 x 72 in.
Untitled
in Thicket]
Oil on canvas
20 x 20 in.
turned to Agnes, asking her to bring our suitcases and ran to get her hat and elegant travel shoes.
The train lurched to a screeching halt. It had been a black night with a friendly moon the last time I looked out the window, but to my surprise what I saw now was very different. We had stopped at a gray platform with uniformed Gestapo officers and soldiers with boots and guns, the officers striding up and down the platform in a cold foggy dawn.
Most had large German Shepherds on leads with them. But as I looked some more, I was aware of people bending over their small bags and frantically pulling everything out so that the entire platform became a sort of junkyard. Standing over these hunched poor people were the officers looking fierce! I was more astonished than frightened as a loudspeaker told us to get out and empty our suitcases!
My mother’s beautiful handmade peach-colored silk lace underwear looked pathetic on the gray cement. But then a particularly tall officer stopped and picked up my mother’s small photo album covered in pretty yellow, brown, and orange flowered fabric. He stared at her and hissed, “You’ve sewn money into this, haven’t you?” My mother, still dressed in her black-silk summer dress with red roses and her stylish black straw hat tilted just
so, looked back at him with exactly the same expression on her beautiful face and hissed back, “Why don’t you cut it open and see for yourself?” At this the officer clicked his heels and, raising his hand inanely in the Hitler salute, said, “I’m terribly sorry! I didn’t realize I was speaking to a lady!” and strode off. But I had no time to be proud of my mother because a large woman in a nurse’s uniform took my arm and told me to go into the door of a small building. I saw my mother also being taken to the door next to mine with another dreadful looking nurse. Once inside the woman quickly took off my clothes and began to feel and search me in every conceivable place! As she was finishing, she turned and growled, “You better hurry and get dressed—the train’s leaving!” And indeed, the puffing and the steam confirmed this. Having pulled my socks and shoes on as fast as I could, tugged on my unbuttoned, smocked flowered dress and matching bloomers, all I could think of was, “where was my mother??” Terrified, I ran along the platform but no sign of her! Turning around I ran back again but still no sighting! The train began to pick up speed. I ran as fast as I could. Then I saw her standing in the opening between cars! She was stretching out her arms and one second later I was in her embrace, my heart beating wildly—but I was safe!
Little Red’s Nightmare 2025
Oil on canvas
48 x 48 in.
Untitled [Girl in Red] 2024
Oil on canvas
14 x 14 in.
Untitled [Hand with Wolf] 2025
Oil on canvas
12 x 12 in.
Untitled [Legs]
Oil on canvas 14 x 14 in.
Little Red VII
Oil on canvas
78 x 70 in.
Untitled [Wolf] 2024
Oil on canvas
36 x 24 in.
Cornelia Foss
born
1931 B orn in Berlin, Germany
education
1947–48 U niversity of Indiana, Bloomington, IN
1950 R ome University, Rome, Italy
1952 K ann Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
solo exhibitions
2025 C ornelia Foss | Little Red , Hirschl & Adler Modern, N ew York, NY
2024 Cen tury Masters: Cornelia Foss, The Century Association, N ew York, NY
2023 C ornelia Foss , presented by MM Fine Art at Rafael Gallery, N ew York, NY
2022 C ornelia Foss: Recent Work , MM Fine Art, S outhampton, NY
C ornelia Foss: Preview of New Work , presented by M M Fine Art at DFN Projects, NY
2020 C ornelia Foss: Recent Work , MM Fine Art, S outhampton, NY
2018 C ornelia Foss , Rafael Gallery, New York, NY
2016 L arge & Small , The Century Association, New York, NY
2015–16 C ornelia Foss, Retrospective , Guild Hall, Easthampton, NY
C ornelia Foss: New Paintings , Peter Marcelle Gallery, S outhampton, NY
2014 C ornelia Foss: Recent Work , Gerald Peters Gallery, N ew York, NY
2013 C ornelia Foss: New Paintings , Peter Marcelle Gallery, B ridgehampton, NY
2012 L ong Island Museum, Stonybrook, NY
M arcelle Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
2011 G reen and Blue Gallery, Hardwick, VT
2009 D FN Gallery, New York, NY
2007 D FN Gallery, New York, NY
2005 D FN Gallery, New York, NY
2003
D FN Gallery, New York, NY
C lark Gallery, Southampton, NY
H orizon Gallery, Buffalo, NY
B oston University, Boston, MA
2002 B erry-Hill Gallery, New York, NY
2001 D FN Gallery, New York, NY
D enise Bibro Gallery, New York, NY
2000 G lenn Horowitz Booksellers, East Hampton, NY
1999 D FN Gallery, New York, NY
1998 E lizabeth Meyers Gallery, New York, NY
1997 L izan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
1996 G allery Emanuel, Great Neck, NY
C ornelia Foss , Fotouhi Cramer Gallery, New York, NY
1995 R enee Fotouhi Gallery, East Hampton, NY
1994 D enise Bibro Gallery, New York, NY
C ornelia Foss , Saint-Gaudens Memorial, Cornish, NH
B enton Gallery, Southampton, NY
1992 B enton Gallery, Southampton, NY
C ornelia Foss, Paintings & Drawings , Union League Club, N ew York, NY
C ornelia Foss: New Paintings , Steven Scott Gallery, B altimore, MD
G allery 454 North, Los Angeles, CA
1990 B enton Gallery, Southampton, NY
Imag e Gallery, Stockbridge, MA
Tatiana Eitle, Cyprus, Greece
1989 B en Shahn Center for the Visual Arts, Wayne, NJ
1988 S usan Schreiber Gallery, New York, NY
1987 Co rnelia Foss, Paintings , Gallery 454 North, L os Angeles, CA
1986 F igure and Landscape: Paintings and Drawings by C ornelia Foss , Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI
1984 M cLean Gallery, London, England
S utton Gallery, New York, NY
1983 P arsons Gallery, Easthampton, NY
1982 D avid Barnett Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
Loo nam Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
1981 B erry-Hill Galleries, New York, NY
1972 B enson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
1965 P aintings by Cornelia Foss , James Goodman Gallery, B uffalo, NY
1961 F erus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1959 F erus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
group exhibitions
2025 S ummer Selections , Hirschl & Adler Modern, N ew York, NY
Fl ock of Genius , Keyes Art, Sag Harbor, NY
2023 You’re So Vain | Portraits & Self-Portraits , MM Fine Art, S outhampton, NY
W inter Collection: Town & Country, MM Fine Art, S outhampton, NY
2022 A rt for Giving , MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY
E ast End Artists: Then & Now, MM Fine Art, S outhampton, NY
I n Bloom , MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY
2021–22 9 0 Years: Selections from the Permanent Collection , G uild Hall, East Hampton, NY
2021 Women Artists of the Hamptons , MM Fine Art, S outhampton, NY
2020 Town & Country, MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY
2019–20 W inter Landscapes , MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY
2019 C ornelia Foss and Dan Rizzie , MM Fine Art, S outhampton, NY
S ecret Garden , MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY
2018 L and & Sea & Sky, MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY
5 o n 59: Painters’ Perspectives , Rafael Gallery, N ew York, NY
I n Black & White , MM Fine Art, Southampton, NY
2017 A cademy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
2015 S elfies and Portraits of the East End , Guild Hall, Ea st Hampton, NY
2014–15 N ew Additions to the Guild Hall Museum Permanent Collection , 2010–2014, East Hampton, NY
2013–14 L andscape Selections from the Permanent Collection , G uild Hall, East Hampton, NY
with Girl in Distance]
Oil on canvas
20 x 20 in.
2009 N ew Work by Gallery Artists , DFN Gallery, N ew York, NY
2008 L ight of Spring , Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, NY
2007 We t , DFN Gallery, New York, NY
N ew York at Night , DFN Gallery, New York, NY
2005 10th Anniversary Show, DFN Gallery
T he Little Continent of Long Island: Landscapes from t he Permanent Collection , Long Island Museum, S tony Brook, NY
D FN Gallery, New York, NY
2004 Watercolor, DFN Gallery, New York, NY
A rtists’ Gardens , Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
S kies & Scapes , Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
A ddison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
2003 T he Burbs , DFN Gallery, New York, NY
L izan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
2002 TriBeCa Works on Paper, New York, NY
2001 L ong Island Museum, Stony Brook, NY
E laine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
L izan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
A rt Students League, New York, NY
2000 D FN Gallery, New York, NY
C old Spring Harbor Gallery, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
S ummer Show, DFN Gallery, New York, NY
H eckscher Museum, Huntington, NY
1999 E laine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
M B Modern, New York, NY
Untitled [Forest Pursuit]
2025
Oil on canvas
24 x 24 in.
M oab Arts Festival , Overlook Gallery, Moab, Utah
L izan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
L ong Island Landscape Exhibit , Mishkin Gallery, B aruch College, New York, NY
T he Century Association, New York, NY
T he Art Students League, New York, NY
1998 S panierman Gallery, New York, NY
M B Modern, New York, NY
T he Century Association, New York, NY
T he Art Students League, New York, NY
G remillion Gallery, Houston, TX
E laine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
T he National Museum for Women, Washington, D.C.
1997 M olly Barnes Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
L izan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
E laine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
T he Art Students League, New York, NY
1996
T he American Academy of Arts and Letters, N ew York, NY
E laine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
T he Art Students League, New York, NY
M etropolitan Pavilion, New York, NY
F otouhi Cramer Gallery, East Hampton, NY
G uild Hall, East Hampton, NY
H ecksher Museum, Huntington, NY
1995 A rlene Bujese Gallery, East Hampton, NY
R enee Fotouhi Gallery, East Hampton, NY
L izan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
T he Art Students League, New York, NY
T he Century Association, New York, NY
1994 G rey Art Gallery, New York, NY
A rlene Bujese Gallery, New York, NY
T he Art Students League, New York, NY
1993
G rey Art Gallery, New York, NY
S teven Scott Gallery, Baltimore, MD
P arrish Museum, Southampton, NY
1992 T he Art Students League, New York, NY
N ational Academy of Design, New York, NY
B enton Gallery, South Hampton, NY
D elaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
E laine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
B altimore Museum, Baltimore, MD
1991 S teven Scott Gallery, Baltimore, MD
1990 G allery 454 North, Los Angeles, CA
A mnesty International Invitational, New York, NY
P arrish Museum, Southampton, NY
B enton Gallery, Southampton, NY
1989 Vered Gallery, East Hampton, NY
B enton Gallery, Southampton, NY
E laine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
1988 G runebaum Gallery, New York, NY
F orum Gallery, New York, NY
G rey Gallery, New York, NY
S usan Schreiber Gallery, New York, NY
C ontemporary Nudes , One Penn Plaza, New York, NY
1987 Th e Environment , Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
1986 A nn Plumb Gallery, New York, NY
1985 A rt Views Gallery, East Hampton, NY
A rmstrong Gallery, New York, NY
1983 A rt Latitude (Siegel) Gallery, New York, NY
1972 B enson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY
1963 I ndianapolis Museum, Indianapolis, NY
1961 M useum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1958 A rchivo historico dell’arte contemporanea de la Biennale, Venice, Italy
1957 S anta Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
1953 L os Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
public collections
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
Burchfield-Penney Art Center, University of New York, Buffalo, NY
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
The Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, NY
Long Island Museum, Stony Brook, NY
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Museum for Women, Washington, DC
Oklahoma City Art Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS
teaching
1997–2009 National Academy of Design, New York, NY
1997 O riginated Lecture Series at Art Students League f eaturing painters, art historians, critics, and poets d iscussing their work
1993–2004 Art Students League, New York, NY
awards
2023 I nducted to Hamptons Artists Hall of Fame
2017 A rts and Letters Award in Art from the American A cademy of Arts and Letters
2009 E lected to National Academy of Arts
1949 F irst International Prize for Sculpture
Cornelia Foss
selected bilbiography
Wilkin, Karen. “At the Galleries.” The Hudson Review, 2024. Greben, Deidre S. “Long Island female artists on the landscape of inspiration.” Newsday, 10 April 2022.
Guare, John, Foss, Cornelia, McClatchy, J.D. and Wilkin, Karen. Cornelia Foss: A Retrospective . Skira Rizzoli, 2015.
Landes, Jennifer. “Cornelia Foss: A Glimpse, an Idea, and ‘Suddenly a Painting’.” The East Hampton Star, 5 November 2015.
Goldberg, Ira. “Cornelia Foss: An Interview.” LINEA , 6 July 2015.
Solomon, Mike. “Cornelia Foss Starts in the Heart.” Hamptons Art Hub , 3 July 2013.
Benton, William, Foss, Christopher, Foss, Cornelia and Greene, Alison de Lima. Cornelia Foss: Ten Years of Paintings and Drawings, 2003–2013 . C. Foss, 2013.
Weiss, Marion Wolberg. Dan’s Papers , 8 August 2008.
Weiss, Marion Wolberg. Dan’s Papers , 18 April 2008.
Goodman, Jonathan. Art in America , January 2008.
Meade, Rebecca. “Revisiting The Prairie.” The New Yorker, 23 July 2007.
Fasolino, Elizabeth. “The Art Scene.” East Hampton Star, 10 May 2007.
Goodrich, John. “An Enthusiasm for the Observed.” The New York Sun , 17 May 2007.
Koch, Kenneth. On The Edge: Collected Long Poems . Alfred A. Knopf, 2007.
Weiss, Marion Wolberg. Dan’s Papers , 30 September 2005.
Douglas, Julia. “From the Very Beginning, No Choice about Career.” The Southampton Press , 11 August 2005.
Weiss, Marion Wolberg. Dan’s Papers , 3 June 2005.
Kimmelman, Michael. The New York Times , 27 May 2005.
Kimmelman, Michael. “Honoring the Artist: Cornelia Foss.” Dan’s Papers, 3 June 2005.
Esten, John. Hamptons Gardens: A 350 Year Legacy. Rizzoli, 2004.
Sansegundo, Sheridan. The East Hampton Star, 2003.
Slivka, Rose. The East Hampton Star, 2003.
Thomas, Michael M. Hamptons Country, July 1998.
The New Yorker, 22 & 29 June 1998.
Braff, Phyllis. The New York Times , June 1998.
Dan’s Papers , 12 June 1998.
Slivka, Rose. The East Hampton Star, 11 June 1998.
Weiss, Marion Wolberg. Dan’s Papers , 24 January 1997.
Dan’s Papers , 30 May 1997.
Sansegundo, Sheridan. The East Hampton Star, 1997.
Glueck, Grace. The New York Times , 27 December 1996.
Glueck, Grace. The New York Times , 12 July 1996.
Harrison, Helen A. The New York Times , 23 June 1996.
The Great Neck Record , 14 March 1996.
Slivka, Rose. The East Hampton Star, 1996.
Sansegundo, Sheridan. The East Hampton Star, 1996.
Slivka, Rose. The East Hampton Star, 1995.
Slivka, Rose. The East Hampton Star, 1994.
Braff, Phyllis. The New York Times , 20 November 1994.
Slivka, Rose. The East Hampton Star, 1993.
Sansegundo, Sheridan. The East Hampton Star, 1993.
Dan’s Papers , 1993.
Sansegundo, Sheridan. The East Hampton Star, 1991.
Dan’s Papers , 1991.
Zeaman, John. The Record , 1989
Henry, Gerrit. Art In America , June 1989.
Shapiro, David. Boulevard , Vol. 4 No. 1, February 1989.
Zeaman, John. The New York Times , 1989.
L.A. Times , 1987
Braff, Phyllis. The New York Times , August 1989.
Vogt, Peter. Marquette Tribune , April 1986.
Henry, Gerit. Art in America , 1984.
White, Claire. Art World , 1984.
Wykes Joyce, Max. Arts and Artists , 1984.
Poroner, Palmer. Art Speak , Vol. 5 No. 16, 16 April 1984.
Reed, Eliza. Arte/art , Vol. 8 No. 6, 1984.
Russell, John. The New York Times , 29 October 1981.
Campbell, Lawrence. “Cornelia Foss at Berry Hill.” Art in America , 1981.
Self-Portrait 2015 Oil on canvas
52 x 42 in.
Private Collection
design
Elizabeth Finger Design
photography
Eric W. Baumgartner, Christopher Foss pp. 20, 22
cover Little Red II (detail)
2016
Oil on canvas
78 x 84 in.
frontis
Untitled [Portait of Girl in Trees with Wolf]
2025
Oil on canvas
48 x 60 in.
© 2025 Hirschl & Adler Modern ISBN 978-1-937941-30-7
H&A