Columbine No. 1
, 1962
76.2 x 55.9 cm (h x w)
Oil on paper
Alfred Cohen Art Foundation
© Estate of Alfred Cohen 2020
Critics often compared Cohen’s vibrant colours to jewels or stained glass. Columbine’s dress turns her into a secular Rose Window of voluptuousness. The roundness of her face and mouth draws attention to the picture’s geometry of overlapping circles, which the framing device attempts to ‘square’, though it can contain neither her presence nor the energy of her appeal.