Milein Cosman: Musical Portraits

Milein Cosman immortalised some of the greatest figures of 20th-century music in pencil, ink and conté. Now, more than 1,300 of these precious musical portraits have found a new home in the Royal College of Music Museum.

When Milein Cosman died in 2017, she left behind hundreds of sketchbooks in which she skilfully documented over half a century of culture. Cosman dontated more than1,300 of these artworks – comprising her collection of musical drawings and prints -- to the Royal College of Music.

The invaluable trove features more than 220 musicians captured in concert or in rehearsal, a great number of whom either studied or taught at the College. Many of these sketches and paintings have never been viewed publicly before.

The German artist settled in England in 1939 and soon earned a reputation as a talented illustrator. She married Viennese musician and broadcaster Hans Keller, and the couple grew to be highly regarded on the London cultural scene. They mixed with some of the most significant figures from the world of art, literature and music, many of whom became muses for Cosman’s art.

Composers, conductors and performers, above all, attracted her talent. Indeed, her sketchbooks can today be viewed as a who’s who in 20th-century music.

Amaryllis Fleming

With precise likeness, these paintings and drawings show RCM alumni in various acts of music-making: Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sir Arthur Bliss on the conductor’s podium, Imogen Holst mid-composition, visiting conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy posed at the piano and Amaryllis Fleming with her bow to the cello.

The invaluable trove features more than 220 musicians captured in concert or in rehearsal, a great number of whom either studied or taught at the College.

Alumnus Benjamin Britten was also a close acquaintance of Cosman and Keller, and several portraits of the composer-conductor are contained within the collection. They are fascinating in that they reveal Britten both in the midst of creation and in his day to day life. Indeed, Cosman even took the time to document the muscian’s pets, putting pencil to paper for both his dachshunds and his parrot.

Richard Strauss, Leonard Bernstein, András Schiff, Mstislav Rostropovich and André Tchaikovsky are just some of the international figures captured by Cosman’s distinctive sparse strokes. And when, in the late 1950s, Igor Stravinsky came to London to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Cosman sketched the Russian composer at work in the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios, creating dozens of portraits over a period of just three days. The drawings are among nearly 100 Stravinsky sketches donated to the RCM as part of the collection.

A prolific portraitist, Cosman took a sketchbook with her wherever she went, sometimes drawing on the back of cheques if she ran out of paper. Her remarkable technique was perfectly suited to capturing musicians, and her sketches are particularly notable for their skilful portrayal of both personality and movement.

She was an artist capable of committing a performer’s individual quirks and manners to paper, illustrating a true likeness of character that has become invaluable all these years later. ‘She drew without even looking at what she was drawing,’ says RCM Museum Curator Gabriele Rossi Rognoni. ‘Her drawings actually bring out more of the subjects’ characters and personalities than a photograph would.’

Leonard Bernstein

Benjamin Britten

Cosman was skilful, too, at capturing the fluidity of her subjects in the full swing of the musical moment. Sketching with the incredible speed for which she became known, she precisely captured posture, gesture and agility in drawings penned in quick succession, often in one sitting.

Her remarkable technique was perfectly suited to capturing musicians, and her sketches are particularly notable for their skilful portrayal of both personality and movement.

When seen together, these portraits appear to animate in the manner of a flip book, seamlessly simulating motions such as the raising of a conductor’s hand or the quiver of a bow.

In February, the RCM celebrated the acquisition of the Cosman sketches – many of which bear the artist’s distinctive signature – with a public concert. RCM musicians and professors performed a number of pieces either composed or performed by the men and women she illustrated. A number of Cosman’s drawings were also displayed for the first time at the College, connecting the artworks to the music that she was listening to while she drew.

Imogen Holst

Ralph Vaughan Williams

When seen together, these portraits appear to animate in the manner of a flip book, seamlessly simulating motions such as the raising of a conductor’s hand or the quiver of a bow.

Working alongside the archivist from the Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust and the artist’s biographer, the RCM Museum now hopes to be able to piece together the stories surrounding each drawing. Once catalogued and researched, the collection will be the largest of any public institution.

The donated works have now been digitised, with generous support from the Pilgrim Trust, ensuring Cosman’s unique heritage, and that of the musicians she sketched, can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Explore some of the sketches online at www.rcm.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions