Alfred Cohen
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; and by the colour and handling of the Post-Impressionists and Expressionists.
[2] After the war Cohen returned to the Art Institute, where he studied under Louis Ritman, Boris Anisfeld (who collaborated with Léon Bakst) and Egon Weiner.
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.
[2] Cohen's work was representational and figurative, owing most to Raoul Dufy, Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Oskar Kokoschka, Georges Rouault and Chaïm Soutine.
Anita Brookner wrote in the 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.
"[6] Edward Lucie-Smith, in Arts Review, found the paintings "strikingly well constructed", adding: "the architecture is nearly always firm and logical.
"[9] 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.
[11] 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.
As the writer 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.
Pictures on Exhibit said: 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.
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.
James Burr, in Apollo, noted: Many subjects have engaged the expressionist fervour of Alfred Cohen; in these recent paintings, the boats and houses of the coastlines of France predominate.
His emotional power and exuberantly vigorous response infuses his paintings with an intensity that makes much contemporary expressionism look feeble.
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.
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.
"[17] Of Cohen's last exhibition with Roland's in 1976, Brian Wallworth wrote in Arts Review: Paintings and drawings of astonishing vivacity and assurance.
In 1978 he and Diana moved to Wighton, north Norfolk, where they converted an old schoolhouse into a studio, print workshop, and art gallery.
Diana gave Zuckerman an exhibition and they were then surprised to receive a day's notice of a visit by the Queen Mother and her entourage including John Julius Norwich.
Tony Warner found his exhibition at the King's Lynn arts centre in 1991 "invigorating", describing how it: "glows with colour.
"[22] 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.
"[23] 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.
"[25] 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.
"[26] 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.
[20] Two retrospective exhibitions have since been held: the first at the School House Gallery from May–June 2001; the second at the London Jewish Cultural Centre from October 2001 – March 2002.
Derek Gillman, Director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, wrote for the first: "He was a grand artist, a great colourist, a forceful designer, and a highly acute observer of places and people.
"[27] 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."
For me, although you can see the influences of Vuillard and Kokoschka and Soutine on Cohen, his best work has Daumier behind it, the vigorousness of caricature and the savage grotesqueries of the commedia dell'arte.
The book Alfred Cohen -- An American Artist in Europe: Between Figuration and Abstraction, edited by 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.
