ARTHUR MORRIS COHEN (1928-2012)

Born in New York in 1928, Arthur Morris Cohen grew up in the Bronx and began his art studies in the late 1940s under Edwin Dickinson and Robert Gwathmey at Cooper Union, before rounding out his formal education with Reginald Marsh at the Art Students League in 1950. He did not begin painting seriously, however, until 1960, which coincided with his first summer spent at Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the tip of Cape Cod. Renting a tiny dune shack from Jeanne “Frenchie” Channel for two seasons, Cohen was captivated by the experience: “It was the closest I ever came to religion. It was you and the shack and the sky and the sea…and that was it.”[1] He joined the Beachcombers, a mostly artists-based social club, and befriended several local painters, including Salvatore Del Deo, who reminisced on their connection after Cohen’s passing in 2012: “In a time when painting is not what it used to be – the traditional painting in natural north light, Arthur and I were drawn together with this mutual love for the tradition of western painting…From the very first time Arthur began to show here he held an incredible attraction to the lay public and he had the double ability to be recognized by his fellow artists and critics because he was that unique.

[1] “Arthur Cohen, 84, of Manhattan and Provincetown,” Staff Writer. Wicked Local, June 14, 2012