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

Cohen experimented with 'multiple' compositions in the 1960s, combining several smaller landscapes or figure compositions into a single work. In Punch and Judy he expresses the complexity of human relations by creating a multiple perspective on Punch and his relationship with Judy. He plays with different kinds of representation from a more realistic family portrait to different kinds of stylization: the man in theatrical costume, assuming a character; the puppets who are nothing but caricatures. He is also interested in how traditions travel through space and time, as the commedia dell'arte gets translated from Italy or France to the British seaside Punch and Judy show.