Wholesale Irascible

Irascible by Adrian Clark 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 money was made in the 19th century in Australia, Douglas Cooper (1911–1984) built up 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 resting largely on his catalogue of the Courtauld Collection (1954) and his catalogue raisonné of Juan Gris (1977). He also organised exhibitions of Gauguin, Braque, and two major displays of Cubism.