Suzanne Cooper - Paintings under the Spare-Room Bed

Suzanne Cooper - Paintings under the Spare-Room Bed by Andrew Stewart, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Jenny Uglow / ISBN 9780957666580 / 112-page hardcover, 120 illustrations, 11 x 10 inches, published by The Mainstone Press

***

In the 1930s Suzanne Cooper (1916–1992) was a rising star of British modernism. While studying at the innovative Grosvenor School of Modern Art in Pimlico, she began showing oil paintings and wood engravings in prestigious West End galleries; reviewers singled out her work for praise. Cooper became the protégée of one of her tutors, the renowned printmaker Iain Macnab, and the influential dealer and collector Lucy Carrington Wertheim who not only exhibited Cooper’s work, but also bought at least two of her paintings. Then came the Second World War. When the Grosvenor School closed, Cooper became a volunteer nurse, and then a wife and mother. Although she continued to draw on occasion, she all but abandoned her artistic ambitions.

Only in recent years has Cooper’s work been rediscovered, attracting comparisons to that of such celebrated artists as Eric Ravilious and Christopher Wood. This beautiful new book showcases Cooper’s remarkable skill in fifty of her enchanting paintings, prints and drawings. The oddity and charm she found in the everyday world resulted in lively seaside and street scenes. Her still lifes display technical fluency and an innate feeling for colour, her portraits a Surrealist quality. A commentary on each work is provided by Andrew Stewart, while richly illustrated essays by Lucy Hughes-Hallett (Cooper’s daughter-in-law) and Jenny Uglow reflect on Cooper’s life and her place in the British art world of the interwar period. With this exciting publication, Suzanne Cooper receives long-awaited recognition for her extraordinary talent.