Obituary of Robert Coane

ROBERT COANE: 11 August 1945 – 28 November 2025 Puerto Rican painter and draftsman born in 1945 best known for provocative political and figurative works passed away on 28 November 2025 at his home in Wolfville, NS. Coane exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Tweed Museum in Duluth MN; Vanderbilt University in Nashville TN; and at El Museo del Barrio, Lehman College, the Reference Center for Marxist Studies, Wright Gallery, Spring Studio and L’Acajou in New York City. Over 50 years teaching nationally and abroad, including the Minnesota Museum of American Art School, the New York Academy of Art and at the International Boys' Circus School, Ourense, Spain. He was featured artist in "Focus on the Figure" at Hopper House in Nyack NY and his solo, "The Color Flesh", was presented at The Arts Center in St. Petersburg FL. He held residencies at El Museo del Barrio and at the Universidad Internacional Menendez y Pelayo in Santander, Spain, and was consultant on Latin American art at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis MN. Coane taught Drawing, Color Theory and Pastel Painting at the Parsons School of Design for twelve years. He was Director of L’Atelier in NYC, which he founded in 1983, conducted workshops in figure painting and drawing and was webmaster at www.Atelier-RC.com. He has been featured on Naked New York, WBAI radio's "Artbreaking" with Charlie Finch and The New York Press. Born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, he emigrated to New York in 1971. An accomplished draftsman since early childhood, he was apprenticed to artist Fran Cervoni in Puerto Rico and studied drawing starting at the age of 12. He was befriended and strongly influenced, both artistically and politically, by Lorenzo Homar and his graphics. In NY, he studied drawing under Gary Faigin and painting under Francis Cunningham at the Art Students League of New York, anatomy at the New York Academy of Figurative Art, and perspective and design at the Parsons School of Art and Design in NYC. Coane self-exiled to Nova Scotia with his wife, Cynthia (nee Farris), and Canine family in 2012 and became a Canadian citizen in 2016 swearing he would never again set foot in the United States or its possessions. He is survived by his wife of 42 years and Canine children, Holly and Twain. Cremated; ashes to be mixed with those of forever Canine friends Rodin, Sophie, Frida and Nietzsche and scattered. "Thinking of Cronshaw, Philip remembered the Persian rug which he had given him, telling him that it offered an answer to his question upon the meaning of life; and suddenly the answer occurred to him: he chuckled: now that he had it.... The answer was obvious. LIFE HAS NO MEANING. Philip was happy.” – OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1915) WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM (1874 – 1965) British playwright, novelist and short story writer