The Kokoon Arts Club, sometimes spelled Kokoon Arts Klub, was a Bohemian artists group founded in 1911 by Carl Moellman, William Sommer and Elmer Brubeck to promote Modernism in Cleveland, Ohio.[1][2] Moellman had been a member of New York City's Kit Kat Club, which served as inspiration for Kokoon. From 1913 to 1946 Kokoon's annual Bal-Masque balls scandalized Cleveland with risqué activities, provocative art, and nudity, and was sometimes humorously referred to as the "Cocaine Club". A fierce rivalry stood between Kokoon and the more conservative Cleveland Society of Artists.
- ^ Witchey, Holly (1993), "The Battle of the Early Moderns: The Kokoon Club and the Cleveland Society of Artists" (PDF), in Richert, Sandy (ed.), Cleveland as a Center of Regional American Art, Cleveland: Cleveland Artists Foundation, pp. 37–47, ISBN 0-9639562-3-X, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-27, retrieved 2011-01-02. Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Grabowski, John J.; David D. Van Tassel (1997-07-23). "Kokoon Arts Club". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved 2011-01-02.