Carl M. Cochran Art Auction Begins Sept. 21

The family of artist Carl M. Cochran, long-time resident of New London and Professor at Colby Sawyer College, has made a generous donation to the Richards Free Library and Library Arts Center of artwork made by the artist throughout his life. Hundreds of art pieces created by this well-respected artist were donated – ranging from large-scale sculptures, to framed paintings and drawings, to unframed sketches.

Pieces on Display: Sept. 21-27

Pieces on Display/Silent Auction Bidding Open:

Saturday, Sept. 21, 10am-4pm

Sunday, Sept. 22, 11am-2pm

Closed Monday

Tues.-Wed. Sept. 24-25, 11am-4pm

Thurs.-Fri. Sept. 26-27, 11am-7pm

Closing Party for Final Bids: Friday, Sept. 27th, 5-7pm Wine and Cheese Reception. Admission is free.

All pieces displayed will be up for bid by silent auction, and all proceeds will be split evenly between the Richards Free Library and the Library Arts Center.
See the auction catalog below. Click on the catalog to view the booklet in more detail. You can zoom in on pieces through this viewer.

If you are unable to attend the auction and would like to place a bid remotely, please send an email to cochranartauction@gmail.com with the following information:

YOUR NAME

Mailing Address

Phone Number

Email address

The PIECE NUMBER (*found in the auction catalog)

YOUR BID AMOUNT

**Please note that we regard your bid as a commitment to purchase the piece if you are the winning bidder.

About the Artist

Artist’s Statement

For several decades the caption of a New York Times article mounted on a metal banner has hung in my studio as a controlling concept. It reads in bold type, “A WORK OF ART SHOULD BE PLANNED BUT NOT TOO DELIBERATELY” and aptly states my philosophy of art.

Coming of age in the great depression, at a time when American Art was on the threshold of an exciting period, I was subject to multiple influences which nourished my creativity as I pursued my avocation of art while earning a living as a teacher of language and literature.

Born of Scottish ancestry, I readily follow impulses to salvage, restore, record, employ, and preserve diverse elements produced by nature and human beings. I attempt to compose them with imagination into works of art in two or three dimensions, letting serendipity play its part.

— Carl M. Cochran

Artist’s Biography

Critically acclaimed artist and Colby-Sawyer College professor emeritus Carl M. Cochran was born in West Virginia and moved with his family to Maryland by the time he was thirteen years old. After high school he attended Blue Ridge Junior College, transferring to Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. He graduated from Washington college in 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He met his future wife Elinore Harkness in Elkton, Maryland, and they were wed in 1944. After their marriage Mr. Cochran taught for eleven years at the Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During that time he earned a Master of Art in English from Yale University and a Master of Arts in the History of Art from the University of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Cochran also studied at Johns Hopkins University, the York School of Interior Decoration and the Carnegie Institute of Technology. In April of 1958 he published James Queen, Philadelphia Lithographer in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Geography. A 1979 sabbatical allowed him to complete his research on Frank Queen, editor of the New York Clipper from 1853-1882.

After serving a year in Helsinki, Finland (1955) Mr. Cochran became a professor of Languages and Literature at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire. He taught at Colby-Sawyer from 1956 until his retirement in 1981. During his tenure he was highly regarded as a professor and Department Head, a position he held for twelve years. The College recognized his artistic talent by generously giving him the entire third floor of Colgate Hall as studio space. His many contributions to college academics were recognized in 1997 with the first annual Cochran Award in English.

Both Mr. Cochran and his wife Elinore were honored for their contributions to the New London community, which spanned forty years, when the College presented to them the 1997 Town Award. Besides his service to the College, Mr. Cochran was recognized as a past President of the New London Historical Society and former President of the New Hampshire Art Association. His wife Elinore, corresponding secretary of the Friends of the Susan Colgate Cleveland Library-Learning Center, was a past choir director of the New London First Baptist Church and a patron of area artists and musicians.