Gerald Cooper
Little Bull
Oil on board, signed and inscribed on reverse
Image size: 16 x 19 1/2 inches (40.5 x 49.5 cm)
Contemporary-style handmade frame
A charming painting of a Bull in a farmyard. The intense realism of the work elevates the beast: the distinctive markings and the coarse fur that covers its powerful physique must derive from after-life observations.
Gerald Cooper
Cooper was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire. He worked as a painter, sculptor and teacher. He was known for his meticulous flower drawings in the style of the Old Masters but also did landscapes and figurative subjects.
During World War I he served in the Observer Corps and the Royal Flying Corps, afterwards attending West Bromwich Art School. From 1921 Cooper studied at the Royal College of Art, where in 1925 he shared the Drawing Prize of the school of painting with Phyllis Dodd. Cooper became the principal of Wimbledon School of Art, from 1929 until retirement, and was keenly interested in art education. He was a member of the Bray and National Committees on Art Education and was an examiner for the Ministry of Education.
He lived in and around London for most of his life. One of these locations was Wimbledon in 1933, where he was living when he created this painting. He married Muriel Minter and they had a daughter, Jennifer.
Cooper exhibited nine pictures at the Royal Academy and five at The New English Art Club. He also exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.