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

Cohen lived in Kent from 1963-78 - its landscape and the Channel coast became his major subjects. He painted a number of 'multiples', sometimes combining several separate works into a single frame; or dividing a single canvas or board into sections and painting different compositions in each. It is one version of his experiments with framing devices, painting framing borders around compositions. Here he teases the viewer. Are the two halves of the picture a single view divided by a window-frame; or two separate works that have been juxtaposed? The writing of the title over the sandy beach adds to the playful combination of representation and facture ('made-ness'). The composition balances the danger of the sandbank (legendary for wrecking ships) with the promise of safety offered by the lifeboat. Stylistically, the two halves are in contrast too: the left more representational, the right more abstract, with a hint of the Rothko colour field painting Cohen admired.