Julian Cooper Exhibition

Currently showing until Christmas are four paintings by Alpine Club member Julian Cooper that have not been seen before in the UK. They are part of a joint show called ‘Fire and Ice’ at Michael Richardson’s Art Space Gallery. Only shown before at Turin is a huge close-up of the upper part of the Eiger North Face that is a masterpiece of intimidation through a combination of detail and gravity. Counter-balancing this are three new portraits of Alpine peaks first climbed by members of the Alpine Club. The Weisshorn towers against a sky of graded depth; the bulk of the Dent Blanch is all ribs and ridges; the last alpenglow on Monte Rosa is a sideshow to a bowl of complex light and shadow. It is a mark of the maturity of these smaller works that deft subtleties are achieved by remarkably thick brushstrokes.