A pioneering collector of Cubist art, the English art historian and critic Douglas Cooper was one of the most important—and divisive—figures in the international art world of the 20th century.

Born into a wealthy family whose wealth was made in the 19th century in Australia, Douglas Cooper (1911–1984) built much of his collection of works by Picasso, Braque, Gris, and Léger in the 1930s. He also trained himself to become a respected art historian, his reputation as a scholar largely based on his catalogue of the Courtauld Collection (1954) and his catalogue raisonné of Juan Gris (1977). He also organized exhibitions of Gauguin, Braque, and two major displays of Cubism. The second of these, The Essential Cubism, co-curated with Gary Tinterow and held at the Tate in 1983, was one of the most remarkable collections of Cubist paintings, sculptures, and drawings ever assembled.

Based on extensive research and packed with new material and fresh insights, Irascible focuses on Cooper’s colorful life and significant achievements: his financing and directorship of the Mayor Gallery in London as a young man in the 1930s, when he became close to artists such as Francis Bacon, Paul Nash, Henry Moore, Paul Klee, Joan Miró, and Max Ernst; his wartime experience as an ambulance driver supporting the collapsing French army in 1940; his role as a senior Monuments Man responsible for recovering Nazi-looted art in Switzerland; his move to the south of France in the early 1950s, bringing his collection with him; and his legendary feuds with leading figures and institutions in the British art scene. This book also offers the definitive account of Cooper’s collecting, art dealing, writing, and curating.

Pages: 592, Year of Publication: 0706, Dimensions: 17.1x17.1cm