Alfred Cohen: An American Artist in Europe - Between Figuration and Abstraction

This composition is reminiscent of Cohen's French port pictures from the 1950s, but much freer and less finished. The characteristic effects of light and water - especially the reflections of boats and buildings - have become more abstract and geometric. Cohen's paint handling is transformed: the broad brushstrokes visible, the energetic gestures with which he creates the forms - the squares and rectangles of yellow - create a sense of space and depth. It's not just a painting of a harbour approach, but a picture showing you how the artist approaches painting a harbour. The exposed board around the border reveals the 'painted-ness' of the picture surface, providing an extra, internal 'frame', further accentuated by the brushwork at the edges, as well as its 'composed-ness' - how the artist has chosen a subject and placed it within the rectangle of the picture surface. 'Framing', in this sense, isn't just about putting a decorative border around something when it's finished but setting it up and putting it together from the start. It was an effect Cohen often explored.