Waistel Cooper 1921-2003
Waistel Cooper was a British painter and a major figure of the studio pottery scene in the post-war period. He was instrumental in the development of modernism within the world of ceramics.
Born in Ayr, Scotland, he initially studied painting at Hospitalfield School of Art before winning a painting scholarship to Edinburgh College of Art.
After the interrupted of world war two, Cooper attempted his hand at pottery with a portrait commission in Iceland. Following this, he returned to England to set up a pottery studio in the village of Porlock, Somerset in 1950.
In August 1955, Henry Rothschild (1913–2009) gave Cooper a one-man show at his craft gallery in London, Primavera. Often compared to contemporary London based studio potters Coper and Lucie Rie, Cooper’s rural lifestyle meant that he was largely isolated from London trends. Cooper stated, “I met Lucie Rie and Hans Coper in the fifties and felt a very strong kinship with the direction their work was taking, in so far as it was concerned, as was mine, with sculptural form and texture, and was light years away from the Japonaiserie of the Bernard Leach school of pottery.”
In 1957 Cooper moved to the nearby hamlet of Culbone, where he re-established his pottery. He remained at Culbone Lodge for 25 years, before moving to Penzance in 1982.
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Waistel CooperRotund vase, late 1950s-early 1960swith an oatmeal and brown gloss glaze with drips
signed 'Waistel' to the base
Culbonestoneware12 x 11 cm -
Waistel CooperLarge cloche form bowl, 1970swith a heavily impastoed dark rust surface
signed 'Waistel' to the base
Culbonestoneware17 x 27 cm -
Waistel CooperElongated baluster jug, 1950swith vertical sgraffito lines on a rust surface, and an oatmeal satin-glazed interior
signed ‘Waistel’ to the base
Merryfield, Porlockstoneware20 x 13 cm • 7 ¾ x 5 inches -
Waistel CooperFooted tea bowl, 1950sdecorated with vertical sgraffito lines on an oatmeal and rust surface, and a speckled oatmeal satin-glazed interior
signed ‘Waistel’ to the base
Merryfield, Porlockstoneware7 x 12 cm
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The Festival Exhibition
4 Aug - 16 Sep 2023 EdinburghOur summer show brings together artists who found themselves working at the threshold of the modern. It was this self-awareness and urge to make it new that motivated them as...Read more -
History of the New
1 Jun - 29 Jul 2023 Edinburgh, LondonOur summer show brings together artists who found themselves working at the threshold of the modern. It was this self-awareness and urge to make it new that motivated them as...Read more -
Waistel Cooper 1921-2003
Part Two 29 Sep - 18 Nov 2022 London -
Waistel Cooper 1921-2003
Part one 14 Jan - 25 Feb 2022 Edinburgh, London2021 marked the centenary year of artist-potter Waistel Cooper's birth. It seemed fitting that this was the moment The Fine Art Society, with its long history of dealing in decorative...Read more