Peter Coker
Peter Coker (1926 - 2004)
Peter Coker studied in London at St Martin's School of Art (1941-1943) before enlisting in the Fleet Air Arm (1943-1946) during World War II. After the war, he returned to St Martin's (1947-1949) before moving to the Royal College of Art (1950-1954), where he won a Royal Scholarship in 1951 and a British Institution Scholarship in 1953. He returned to St Martin's to teach painting (1954-1973) and then taught at the City and Guilds of London Art School (1973-1985).
Studying at the Royal College of Art at the same time as Coker were Jack Smith, John Bratby, Derek Greaves and Edward Middleditch, who became known as the Kitchen Sink School, a term coined by the critic David Sylvester in response to their unique brand of realism inspired by everyday domestic life in post-war Britain. While Coker also painted gritty scenes in an unsentimental, realist manner, as visible in Table and Chair (1955) and his series of paintings of animal carcasses inspired by a butcher's shop near his home in Leytonstone, these did not constitute a conscious stand against fashionable modernism but rather represented formal exercises in observation, composition and expression. Coker had discovered the work of Gustave Courbet while visiting Paris in 1950 and, inspired by Courbet, had began to paint landscapes from nature in Normandy and Brittany by the mid-1950s. He continued to use bold colours in his landscapes, using thickly impasted paint to capture the power of natural forces. He also painted in Devon, Cornwall, Essex and, towards the end of his life, in northwest Scotland.
Coker published a book, Etching Techniques, in 1976. He became an Associate of the Royal College of Art in 1953, was elected a Royal Academician in 1972, and won an Arts Council Award in 1976.
Text Source: Benezit Dictionary of Artists
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Peter Coker
Mind and Matter 2017softback, 67 pagesRead more
Publisher: Piano Nobile Publications
ISBN: 978-1-901192-46-9
Dimensions: 24 x 28 cm -
Face to Face
British Self-Portraits in the Twentieth Century Philip Vann, 2004Hardback, 309 pagesRead more
Publisher: Sansom & Company Ltd in association with Piano Nobile Fine Paintings
Dimensions: 25 x 29.3 x 3 cm -
Peter Coker RA (1926-2004)
William Packer, 2005Softback , 44 pagesRead more
Publisher: Piano Nobile Publications
ISBN: 1901192210
Dimensions: 22.5 x 30.3 x 0.7 cm -
Paul Nash: Watercolours 1910-1946
Another Life Another World David Boyd Haycock, 2014Hardback, 90 pagesRead more
Publisher: Piano Nobile Publications
ISBN: 978-1-901192-37-7
Dimensions: 28.8 x 24.8 x 1.4cm -
Piano Nobile: A Kensington Collection
2013Booklet, 8 pagesRead more
Publisher: Piano Nobile Publications
Dimensions: 15 x 20 cm -
20th Century Modern British Art
Developments in Modern British Art 2013Booklet, 8 pagesRead more
Publisher: Piano Nobile Publications
Dimensions: 15 x 20 cm -
Sunflowers, Peter Coker
Set Alongside 'Meditations' Andrew Lambirth, Carrie Etter, 2012Sewn paperback, 36 pagesRead more
Publisher: Piano Nobile Publications
ISBN: 978-0-9569920-2-4
Dimensions: 239 x 282mm -
Thomas Newbolt
Finding Faces in the Dark Martin Gayford, 2012Paperback, 28 pagesRead more
Publisher: Piano Nobile / Robert Travers (2012)
ISBN: 1901192326
Dimensions: 20.3 x 21 x 0.5 cm
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The Treasure House Fair
Royal Hospital Chelsea 22 - 26 Jun 2023 Art FairPiano Nobile | Stand 202 Royal Hospital Chelsea South Grounds London, SW3 4SR The Treasure House Fair is a celebration of outstanding and rare art and antiques. Held at...Read more -
British Art Fair 2018
Saatchi Gallery 20 - 23 Sep 2018 Art FairSTAND 16 Piano Nobile is delighted to be exhibiting at the British Art Fair, previously known as the 20/21 British Art Fair. The fair returns for its 30th Anniversary in...Read more -
Masterpiece 2017
The Royal Hospital, Chelsea 27 Jun - 5 Jul 2017 Art FairStand D19 Piano Nobile is pleased to be returning to Masterpiece for 2017. London's leading arts and antiques fair will be at The Royal Hospital Chelsea from 29 June until...Read more -
Peter Coker
Mind and Matter 5 Apr - 13 May 2017 Piano NobilePeter Coker: Mind and Matter presents a selection of exceptional works by Peter Coker (1926-2004), bringing together pieces spanning the early 1950s through to the mid-1980s. The first exhibition of...Read more -
London Art Fair
Stand 8 20 - 25 Jan 2015 Art FairPiano Nobile is exhibiting at the London Art Fair, Islington in January 2015.Read more -
British Self-Portraits: Highlights from the Ruth Borchard Collection
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester 18 Oct 2014 - 31 May 2015Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, in conjunction with Piano Nobile presents an exhibition of highlights from the Ruth Borchard Collection of self-portraits by British artists brought together by Ruth Borchard throughout...Read more -
20/21 British Art Fair
Royal College of Art 10 - 14 Sep 2014 Art FairThe 20/21 British Art Fair is the only fair to specialise in British art of the 20th and 21st centuries. Held at the Royal College of Art, 'the spiritual home...Read more -
20th Century British Art
Developments in Modern British Art 20 Jun - 20 Jul 2013 Piano Nobile20th Century: Modern British Art - Developments in Modern British ArtRead more
Piano Nobile Gallery
Summer show with selected works following the developments in 20th Century British Art
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Piano Nobile
A Kensington Collection 20 Jun - 20 Aug 2013 Piano NobilePiano Nobile works with several artist's estates and collections, both public and private. We are pleased to bring to the market, to be sold as a group or individually, the...Read more -
Masterpiece 2012
28 Jun - 4 Jul 2012 Art FairThe Gallery will be presenting a selection of work by European Modernists including Walter Sickert, Christopher Wood, Hans Hartung, Anthony Caro and William Turnbull.Read more -
Peter Coker RA
The Solidity of Form 30 May - 21 Jun 2012 Piano NobileAn Exhibition of highlighted works by Peter Coker held at the Piano Nobile in conjunction with the publication of the fith edition of The Nobile Folios. The Fith edition of...Read more