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Art is casualty of latest fire
Banner Daily Update Fri. Mar. 7
By Kaimi Rose Lum
BANNER STAFF
PROVINCETOWN — Police say the fire that destroyed an East End shed late Tuesday afternoon could be the work of the so-called “gentleman arsonist” who has terrorized the town since October. Gentleman no more. This time the arsonist attacked one of the town’s most precious commodities: its art.
Thirteen or fourteen large paintings and a number of etchings by artist Arthur Cohen, a well-known and respected member of the local arts community, were destroyed in the blaze that engulfed Cohen’s studio at Bradford and Allerton Street on March 4. The only item salvageable from the charred rubble in Cohen’s yard is the steel printing press he had kept in the shed.
“I’d gladly buy a gun and blow this guy away, but you can’t think like that,” Cohen said Thursday at his Bradford Street home, adding later that he could even try to repaint some of the paintings that were lost. The artist had returned to Provincetown on Wednesday from New York City, where he spends the winters, to deal with the aftermath of the fire. Keeping him company was fellow Provincetown artist Salvatore Del Deo, who was there to offer his sympathy and support.
Cohen was calm and composed and said he is thinking about rebuilding the shed, which was built 40-50 years ago by the legendary local carpenter Jimmy Thomas. Among the paintings lost were landscapes of the Provincetown waterfront — a signature of Cohen’s. His work is well-known and has been acquired by prestigious museums around the country including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Police believe the fire to be the work of the arsonist who has lit a string of blazes across town since October. It is only the second in that string of fires, however, in which the building involved was burned to the ground. The first occurred when a home on Oppen Way was gutted by flames on Nov. 2.
“There is a lack of evidence due to the fact it burned completely. However, from what little is there, I think it is connected,” said Acting Police Chief Warren Tobias on Thursday. The state fire marshal’s office continues to investigate the incident
Cohen said he intended to stay in town for a few days to clean up the rubble. Charred canvases and other debris strew the lawn in front of the blackened skeleton that was once his studio.
“It’s a terrible loss,” Del Deo said later on Thursday, “but he will go on, I’m sure, and continue to do wonderful work and put it behind him.”
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Mar 6th, 2008