Cooper, Douglas

Cooper, Douglas (1911–1984). British art historian and collector. He lived in France for much of his life and was severely critical of the British for what he regarded as their failure to appreciate or patronize modern art. Born in London, the son of wealthy parents, he read modern languages at Trinity College, Cambridge, then briefly attended the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Freiburg, studying art history. His main interest was Cubism, and in 1932 he decided to devote part of his inheritance to forming a collection of its four main protagonists—Picasso, Braque, Gris, and Léger—in its greatest period, 1907–14. He later added works by other artists, but the Cubists remained the core. In the Second World War he worked in intelligence and helped to identify, protect, and repatriate works of art. In 1949 he discovered the dilapidated Château de Castille in Argilliers, near Avignon, in southern France, and this became his main home. Picasso was a neighbour and visitor, but their friendship turned to hostility. Cooper, indeed, had a notoriously difficult temperament and enjoyed controversy; in the 1950s he became particularly well known for his attacks on the Tate Gallery and its director Sir John Rothenstein. He was a formidable scholar and published substantial books on all four major Cubists. He also organized exhibitions, among them two major Cubist shows: ‘The Cubist Epoch’ at Los Angeles County Museum and the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in 1970, and ‘The Essential Cubism’ at the Tate Gallery, London, in 1983. See also RICHARDSON.