Cohen, Bernard

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COHEN, BERNARD

COHEN, BERNARD (1933– ), British painter; brother of the painter Harold *Cohen. Bernard was born in London. While visiting the U.S., he was profoundly impressed by Abstract Expressionism. He was included in the Venice Biennale of 1966 and a retrospective at the Tate Gallery, London, in 1973 established him as a leading contemporary British artist. Bernard Cohen is essentially a romantic painter and his quasi-mystical manner has more in common with postwar American painting (especially the work of Jewish artists such as *Rothko and Newman) than his English contemporaries. His later work sought a new purity and spirituality. The Tate Gallery in London held 48 of his works in 2004.

[Charles Samuel Spencer]