# Alfred Cohen
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{{short description|American artist}}
{{About||the lawyer and politician|Alfred M. Cohen|the theater critic|Alan Dale}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
'''Alfred Cohen''' (1920–2001) was an American artist whose art was firmly rooted in the European tradition; he was inspired in particular by the ''[commedia dell'arte](/source/commedia_dell'arte)''; and by the colour and handling of the [Post-Impressionists](/source/Post-Impressionism) and [Expressionists](/source/Expressionism).
== Biography ==
Cohen was born on May 9, 1920, in Chicago.[Obituary, ''Daily Telegraph'' (February 8, 2001), 31] His father, a furniture dealer, had emigrated from [Latvia](/source/Latvia) to America, where he married the daughter of another Latvian emigre.
Cohen attended the [Art Institute of Chicago](/source/Art_Institute_of_Chicago), but left to enlist in the [US Army Air Forces](/source/US_Army_Air_Forces). He served from 1942 to 1945 as a navigator in [Flying Fortresses](/source/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress) and [Liberators](/source/Consolidated_B-24_Liberator) based in the [Pacific Theater](/source/Pacific_War).[{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/maxsaunders/alfred-cohen-painter-1920-2001/|title=Alfred Cohen Painter, 1920-2001 – Max Saunders}}]
After the war Cohen returned to the Art Institute, where he studied under [Louis Ritman](/source/Louis_Ritman), [Boris Anisfeld](/source/Boris_Anisfeld) (who collaborated with [Léon Bakst](/source/L%C3%A9on_Bakst)) and [Egon Weiner](/source/Egon_Weiner). In 1949 he was awarded a fellowship to study in Europe, where he was to spend the rest of his life. He lived in France and Germany, and travelled widely throughout the Continent. Cohen and his first wife, Virginia Adler, lived in Sam Francis' old studio on the Boulevard Arago in Paris, where he studied at the [Académie de la Grande Chaumière](/source/Acad%C3%A9mie_de_la_Grande_Chaumi%C3%A8re).[Masques et Visages, 1958; clipping in the Archive of the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation] and hailing his paintings as "good, direct and natural".[Le Peintre, 1958; clipping in the Archive of the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation.] In 1958 he had his first one-man exhibition at the [Ben Uri](/source/Ben_Uri_Gallery_%26_Museum) in London, where two years later he decided to settle. His exhibition at the Obelisk Gallery in 1960 was the first of several sell-out shows in Britain.
Cohen had already met with considerable success in Germany and France. But with the large canvases of his ''Aspects of the Thames'' exhibition in 1961 Cohen really began to win critical acclaim in Britain too.
frame|Alfred Cohen, ''Docklands Night'', 1961, oil on canvas, 28 x 36 in; 71.1 x 91.4 cm; private collection; on loan to the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation
[Anita Brookner](/source/Anita_Brookner) wrote in the ''[Burlington Magazine](/source/Burlington_Magazine)'' that Cohen was "a fresh and accessible artist of considerable accomplishment, whose abstract impressionist compositions were enlivened by an acute charm of colour."[Anita Brookner, ''Burlington Magazine'', 1961] ''[The Tatler](/source/Tatler)'' admired "the rich sense of colour that makes his work immediately striking and lastingly memorable" and again noted the combination of abstract design and representation which remained important throughout his career: "Look (...) at almost any few square inches of a Cohen canvas and you have a little gem of abstract painting."[Robert Wraight, ''Tatler'', 1961] [Edward Lucie-Smith](/source/Edward_Lucie-Smith), in ''[Arts Review](/source/ArtReview)'', found the paintings "strikingly well constructed", adding: "the architecture is nearly always firm and logical. . . . I admire these pictures most as virtuoso demonstrations of technical skill. They have immense panache and glitter, and yet they are self-consistent."[Edward Lucie-Smith, ''Arts Review'', 1961] The ''New Daily'' appreciated the "visionary quality" of their effects of light.[C. R. Cammell, ''New Daily'', 1961.]
Cohen followed this with an exhibition at the Brook Street Gallery in 1963, on the theme of the ''commedia dell'arte''. ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)'' described the technical achievement of his images as "formidable", and declared him "one of the best [draughtsmen](/source/Drafter) at work today", adding that "Only Picasso in one or two early works has in our time touched such depths through the characters of the ''Commedia dell'Arte''."[Terence Mullaly, ''Daily Telegraph'', October 1963.] [Conroy Maddox](/source/Conroy_Maddox), wrote in ''Arts Review'' that "The paintings are a show of force and theatricality (...) Cohen has certainly gained a sensuous richness and a robust and vigorous way of handling his material."[Conroy Maddox, ''Arts Review'', 1963.]
thumb|left|Alfred Cohen, ''Polichinelle (Red Punch)'', 1963, acrylic on hardboard, 40 x 30 in; 101.6 x 76.2 cm. Alfred Cohen Art Foundation
The inspiration of the ''commedia dell'arte'' was to recur throughout Cohen's work. But once again he resisted the temptation to repeat a successful formula, and completely reinvented his painting yet again. Now he turned his attention to the landscape of [Kent](/source/Kent), where he settled with his second wife, Diana Saunders, in 1963.[{{Cite web|last=Saunders|first=Max|date=2021|title=Alfred Cohen (1920-2001)|url=https://kent-maps.online/20c/20c-cohen-biography/|access-date=12 February 2022|website=Kent Maps Online}}] His exhibition of "Recent Paintings" at the Brook Street Gallery in 1965 sounded a note that was to remain important in Cohen's work, focusing on the English countryside and country people. His attraction to Britain never waned. "I don't want to leave it. America is no longer my home. I feel more of a foreigner there than I do anywhere in Europe."[Philip Oakes, "Cohen GB", ''Sunday Times'' (December 29, 1968)' clipping in Archive of the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation.] But he was also attempting to capture the features of the land that most perplexed him. First, its postwar air of decline: "It is crumbling from the inside, and crumbling in style. It's elegant, but there's danger in the elegance." But also the challenge represented by its crowded seclusion. As the writer [Philip Oakes](/source/Philip_Oakes) explains: "He evolved a new style, using paint like a sculptor, laying down slabs of colour, carving it with his brush so that the fields and hedges and houses seemed to be hewn from the canvas."There are very few artists of today's generation with the ability to synthesise the quality of 20th Century Ecole de l'Europe in the sense that the late impressionists and the post-impressionists did it for their epoch. Alfred Cohen is one of them, and maybe this explains his success with a wide category of collectors. Their enthusiasm is unstinting (...) There are few enough painters like [Cohen] nowadays; hardly one capable of capturing the British scene in such an attractive and authoritative way.[P. Sheldon-Williams, Pictures on Exhibit, 1965; clipping in the Archive of the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation.]
Cohen had nine one-man exhibitions in London, and others in [Heidelberg](/source/Heidelberg), Hannover, Paris, Toronto, Montreal, Tokyo, [Cape Town](/source/Cape_Town), [Belfast](/source/Belfast), and many other cities and towns in England, including Cambridge, York, [Harrogate](/source/Harrogate), Leeds, Rye, and [King's Lynn](/source/King's_Lynn). He had two-person exhibitions with [Josef Herman](/source/Josef_Herman), [Patrick Hall](/source/Patrick_Hall_(artist)), and [Mary Newcomb](/source/Mary_Newcomb_(artist)). And his work was also included in many international mixed exhibitions, such as one at the U.S. Embassy in London of ''Five Americans in Britain'', with [R. B. Kitaj](/source/R._B._Kitaj) and others.
thumb|right|Alfred Cohen, ''Near Goudhurst'', 1965, oil on board, 9.75 x 11.in; 24.8 x 29.9 cm. Private Collection.
In the late 1960s he joined Roland, Browse and Delbanco, in Cork Street, which combined exhibitions of artists such as [Rodin](/source/Auguste_Rodin) and [Matthew Smith](/source/Matthew_Smith_(painter)) with work from contemporary artists such as [Phillip Sutton](/source/Philip_Sutton_(artist)), Keith Grant and Cohen's friend [Josef Herman](/source/Josef_Herman). The first of his four exhibitions there was in 1969. It continued the exploration of the country. "He was always effective and satisfying", wrote ''[The Jewish Chronicle](/source/The_Jewish_Chronicle)'', "but his Kentish landscapes have been a consistent breakthrough . . . . He has things in common with several good artists, but most noticeable with what de Stael might have painted had he been able to sustain himself at his best. For Cohen now uses that thick impasto in jewel-like colour-blocks that are subtly balanced. The variety of blues and greens, and of reds, that he can weigh in his balance is astonishing."[''Jewish Chronicle'', 1969; clipping in the Archive of the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation.] But he also began to return to the Channel coast, seen from both sides, and in new ways. James Burr, in ''Apollo'', noted:
{{Quote|Many subjects have engaged the expressionist fervour of Alfred Cohen; in these recent paintings, the boats and houses of the coastlines of France predominate. He reacts with a fierce passion to direct experience that is organized into a formal structure. . . . His emotional power and exuberantly vigorous response infuses his paintings with an intensity that makes much contemporary expressionism look feeble.[James Burr, ''Apollo'', 1969.]}}
thumb|left|Alfred Cohen, ''Coastal Picture'', 1966, oil on board, 8 x 10 in; 20.3 x 25.4 cm. Private Collection.
It was this return to coastal paintings that was to characterize much of his later work. [Marina Vaizey](/source/Marina_Vaizey) reviewed his second show at Roland, Browse and Delbanco in 1972 for the ''Financial Times'', commenting on how the works "play on the borders of abstract and representational art", and noting: "He is particularly fond of a deep range of blues, and sea-greens, and the compositions have a deliberate naiveté that is charming but never cloying."[Marina Vaizey, ''Financial Times'', 1972.] The ''Jewish Chronicle'' said: "Like Marquet, Cohen paints beautifully, but more warmly. . . a man who is passionately concerned about painting well, and who has also a first-rate sense of colour, deep and rich, belonging to the earth and the sea."[''Jewish Chronicle'', 1972; clipping in the Archive of the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation.] Of Cohen's last exhibition with Roland's in 1976, Brian Wallworth wrote in ''Arts Review'':
{{Quote|Paintings and drawings of astonishing vivacity and assurance. . . . Each one is a fully resolved picture of an obviously very intense visual sensation felt by the artist. . . . delicious . . . What a perceptive, revealing and loving eye this American turns on the people, places and atmospheres of Kent! . . . there is a fine wildness about Cohen's pictures that instantly commands attention. . . .[Brian Wallworth, ''Arts Review'', 1976.]}}
thumb|right|Alfred Cohen, ''Folkestone'', 1974–75, oil on hardboard, 16 x 20 in; 40.6 x 50.8 cm. Private Collection.
That exhibition represented yet another new departure. As Peter Stone wrote: "Alfred Cohen is unique. I can think of no other artist whom I have followed since his beginning and found to be literally better in each succeeding exhibition. . . . Here is a new line of free and easy drawings of characters like cartoons. You can't pass them without a chuckle."[Peter Stone, ''Jewish Chronicle'', 1976.]
In the mid-1970s Cohen took up print-making. His hand-coloured etchings, often of flowers, were sold worldwide. He also turned his sense of space and design to the renovation of houses. In 1978 he and Diana moved to Wighton, north Norfolk, where they converted an old schoolhouse into a studio, print workshop, and art gallery. They later discovered that this was the house where Henry Moore had lived as an art student in the 1920s, and where he had begun to sculpt. When landscaping the garden, the Cohens unearthed a marble carving that had been left unfinished and they returned it to Moore.[Ian Collins, ''Guardian'' (March 7, 2001), 24.] The gallery made them friends, notably [Joan Zuckerman](/source/Joan_Zuckerman), who was a well connected artist. Diana gave Zuckerman an exhibition and they were then surprised to receive a day's notice of a visit by [the Queen Mother](/source/the_Queen_Mother) and her entourage including [John Julius Norwich](/source/John_Julius_Norwich).[{{Cite journal |last=Saunders |first=Max |date=2 March 2020 |title=Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe |url=https://www.theamerican.co.uk/pr/ft-art-Alfred-Cohen-Centenery |journal=The American}}]
Like many painters, he loved the light in Norfolk, its skies, and above all its coast. He often exhibited there. Tony Warner found his exhibition at the King's Lynn arts centre in 1991 "invigorating", describing how it: "glows with colour. . . . There is an obvious joy in the visual world. . . . each painting is carefully crafted. Layers of paint build up to an intricate pattern of complementary colours. The structures are worked out with an almost mathematical precision, each part firmly measured against the painting as a whole."[Tony Warner, ''Eastern Daily Press'', 1991.] Of his only one-man exhibition at the School House Gallery, in 1994, the ''Eastern Daily Press'' commented: "Alfred Cohen is recognized as one of the finest colourists and draughtsmen living in England. . . ."[Colin Chinery, ''Eastern Daily Press'', 1994.] His collectors latterly included Sir Keith Joseph, Judge Stephen Tumim, Lord and Lady Norwich, and John Madden.
Cohen continued painting, drawing, etching, and producing screenprints, collages, and assemblages up until his death, on January 25, 2001 at King's Lynn. While the paint surfaces became flatter, less illusionistic, their materiality more insistent, his attention to effects of light, water, and colour, was as intense as ever.
thumb|left|Alfred Cohen, ''Catia's Terrace'', 1991, oil on canvas, 22 x 25 in; 55.9 x 63.5 cm. Private Collection.
== Reception ==
Obituaries appeared in all the major broadsheets. ''The Times'' praised his "vibrant flower compositions and searching portraits", as well as his "evocative scenes of the Thames".[Times (5 March 2001), 21.] ''The Independent'' recalled that "Once in Europe he . . . made his reputation in its galleries, where his unmistakably chunky, jewel-like canvases were for several decades much sought-after."[David Buckman, ''The Independent'' (April 26, 2001), The Thursday Review, 6.] The ''Daily Telegraph'' concurred, recording how "His work became increasingly sought after, by such notable collectors as James Mason, Stanley Baker, and Sam Wanamaker", adding: "A gregarious man, and a friend to many other artists, Cohen also possessed a photographic memory and an encyclopaedic knowledge of Hollywood cinema. His conversation, like his art, bubbled with wit and satire. He hated pomposity or prejudice and was passionately liberal in his beliefs."[ The ''Jewish Chronicle'' described how he "produced a prodigious number of vibrant and colourful paintings. . . . Well received in France, he was equally acclaimed when he moved to London. . . . His hand-coloured etchings . . . were popular in Europe, the US and Japan."][''Jewish Chronicle'' (March 9, 2001), 29.] And the ''Guardian'' called him "a brilliant colourist and deft draughtsman", admiring his "vibrant oils of the Seine, the Thames and the Channel ports, and some telling portraits", as well as his "restless energy" and the wit of his cartoons and constructions.[Archive of the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation.] Lady Vaizey, opening the London exhibition, spoke of how Cohen's work was "filled with warmth, life, affection, pleasure in the beauties and good realities of the present day." Howard Jacobson, in the ''Independent'', praised his "wonderfully violent paintings":
{{Quote|he painted sensuously, in paint rather than in epigrams, and, like many of the best artists still alive in the last quarter of the 20th century, had to take a back seat to that institutionalised facetiousness we know as conceptualism. . . . It should, of course, be Tate Modern that exhibits him, but he's a little hot for their whitened aesthetic. . . . And not only too hot, but too possessed of the satiric daemon. For me, although you can see the influences of [Vuillard](/source/%C3%89douard_Vuillard) and [Kokoschka](/source/Oskar_Kokoschka) and [Soutine](/source/Cha%C3%AFm_Soutine) on Cohen, his best work has [Daumier](/source/Honor%C3%A9_Daumier) behind it, the vigorousness of caricature and the savage grotesqueries of the commedia dell'arte. . .[Howard Jacobson, ''The Independent'', February 2, 2002, The Weekend Review, p. 5.]}}
thumb|center|Alfred Cohen, 'The Entrance of Punch', 1963, oil on canvas, 40 x 32 in; 101.6 x 81.3 cm. Alfred Cohen Art Foundation.
Alfred Cohen's work is represented in the Ben Uri Art Society, Bradford City Art Gallery, British Council, The Castle Museum Norwich, The Contemporary Art Society, The Department of the Environment, Eastern Arts, Ein Harod Museum (Israel), Essex and Bedfordshire County Councils, Ferens Gallery (Hull), Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, Girton College, Cambridge, The Government Art Collection, Lancaster University, Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery, Musée d'Art Moderne d'Eilat, National Collection of the French Government, Norfolk Contemporary Arts Society, The Nuffield Foundation, Pallant House Gallery, Pembroke College Oxford, Rye Art Gallery, Smart Museum, University of Chicago, Spertus Museum, Chicago, The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds, The Stanley Picker Trust, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, St Paul Art Gallery, Minnesota, South East Arts, The Trianon Press, Paris, Trinity College Oxford, Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin, and Wolfson College Oxford.[{{Cite web |url=https://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/maxsaunders/alfred-cohen-painter-1920-2001/public-collections/ |title=Public collections |first=Max |last=Saunders |website=King's Blogs |publisher=[King's College London](/source/King's_College_London) |access-date=2025-01-24}}]
The Alfred Cohen Art Foundation (Registered Charity No. 1097812) was established as a charitable trust in 2001. It is based in Cohen's last home, The School House Gallery, Wighton, Near Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk NR23 1AL.
The book ''Alfred Cohen -- An American Artist in Europe: Between Figuration and Abstraction'', edited by [Max Saunders](/source/Max_Saunders) and Sarah MacDougall (London: Ben Uri Exhibitions /Wighton: The Alfred Cohen Art Foundation, 2020) was published to accompany a centenary programme of exhibitions in London and Norfolk.
The [https://alfredcohen.org/alfred-cohen-museum/ Alfred Cohen Museum] opened in 2023 in the artist's studios at the School House, Wighton, Norfolk.
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://alfredcohen.org Website of the Alfred Cohen Art Foundation]
* [https://alfredcohen.benuricollection.org.uk/index.php Online version of 2020 centenary exhibition 'Alfred Cohen -- An American Artist in London: Between Figuration and Abstraction' at King's College London]
* [https://alfredcohen.org/alfred-cohen-museum/ The Alfred Cohen Museum]
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Category:1920 births
Category:2001 deaths
Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:Artists from Chicago
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alfred Cohen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Cohen) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Cohen?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.