7 days ago
Douglas Cooper – a complex character with a passion for Cubism
The collector, art historian and critic Douglas Cooper (1911-84) relished conflict. He was a formidable man, loud in speech and dress, with forceful views and a taste for ridicule. He could also be very funny. John Richardson, Picasso's biographer, who knew Cooper better than most, said it was as though an angel and a demon child were perpetually fighting for control of his personality. Physically robust, Cooper survived being stabbed in the stomach when he was 50 after unwisely propositioning a French soldier.
He is remembered today, if at all, for his legendary collection of Cubist art, focusing on the four greats of the movement: Picasso, Braque, Léger and Gris. His taste was backed by intense scholarship and he was one of the earliest collectors of Cubism, a rare passion for an Englishman. He was a man of independent thought and opinions, though prey to paranoia and self-indulgent tantrums. He was apparently asked to resign from the Reform Club four times because of bad behaviour. Francis Bacon, with whom he had a very typical falling out, called him 'a prissy old voluptuary'.
This complex figure is the subject of a new book which claims to be an objective biography. It is enriched by having two authors, although there is inevitably a degree of overlap between their texts. The first part is more or less straight biography, by Adrian Clark. The tone is relentlessly disapproving, a clear dislike of Cooper extending to his quondam partner Richardson. Clark calls Cooper a sociopath, a malign, vindictive and wilful person. He claims that the book 'displays' Cooper's life, rather than judges it, but he repeatedly tells us how unpleasant the man was.
