© Estate of Alfred Cohen 2020

Cohen was in his late 60s when he produced this brooding image reflecting on his own national identity. The bald eagle, often used as a symbol of the United States, had featured in recruitment posters for the U.S. air corps. Cohen retained US citizenship despite living abroad for over half a century, and always felt something of an outsider in relation to British culture.
He also reflects on his feelings about America; especially the ‘hawkishness’ of the West and its air-power during the Cold War. The aggression of the eagle is disturbing, as is the profound darkness surrounding it; as if the approaching night itself might symbolize the destruction of a nuclear war that felt imminent at the time.
Yet the symbol also reflects on the artist’s ‘eagle eye’ – his creative vision.