photogram at
Florence Griswold Museum, 2016 She received a BA in the history of art and East Asian Studies from
Washington and Lee University (founded 1749) where she was the first woman in the university's history to receive an undergraduate degree. Cordsen has an MPP from
Georgetown University and studied Chinese and Japanese Art History at
Harvard University and photography at the
International Center of Photography. In the late 1980s Kate Cordsen was represented by
Ford Models. She worked closely with Japanese
avant-garde artists
Rei Kawakubo,
Issey Miyake and
Yohji Yamamoto, appearing on the runway and in print. Cordsen credits this time as a model as both the beginning of her education in photography and as formative in understanding Japanese aesthetics. == Work ==