COHEN, BERNARD (British, b.1933)

Painter of abstracts and influential teacher, he began his studies at the South West Essex Technical College and School of Art, 1949-50; followed by St Martin’s School of Art, London, 1950-51 and Slade School of Fine Art, London, 1951-54.
Awarded French government scholarship in 1954 and a Boise Travelling Scholarship in 1956 he took the opportunity to work in France, Spain and Italy.
His first one-man exhibition was held at Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham, 1958 and in the same year he showed in London at Gimpel Fils.
From the 1960s Cohen began to build up an impressive list of British and foreign exhibition appearances, showing at the Venice Biennale in 1966.
In 1972 a retrospective exhibition was held at Hayward Gallery followed by key appearances in Milan and Paris in the 1970s.
Cohen taught for periods in London at Ealing School of Art, Chelsea and Wimbledon and was Slade professor and chairman of fine art, London University, from 1988.
His early work was influenced by Abstract Expressionism and later was very colourful and detailed, full of imagery and a variety of texture, as shown in the special show at the Tate in 1995.

Public collection include:
Tate, London.