Tuesday 2 January 2018

Luther Hooper's other works

I have previously posted about Luther Hooper's weaving, but I have now discovered that he also had a passion for painting.  

detail from Children in Dappled Woodland Sunshine, 1899
from Metropress

The 3 paintings that I've found on the internet attributed to Luther Hooper, seem to vary widely in style.   For someone who was not supportive of industrialisation the subject of Nocturne, a power station, is a surprising one.  The most interesting composition is 'Children in Dappled Woodland Shade', a painting that with the sloping hill and pine trees could be located in Haslemere, with the children potentially gathering plants for dyeing, or bilberry picking, however it is recorded online as being dated 1899 and Hooper moved to Haslemere c.1902.  In 1899 Hooper was living near Ipswich, the terrain depicted in the painting does not look like that of Suffolk, nor of Bushey where he then moved to.  Perhaps he was visiting Haslemere, or perhaps the painting was not painted in 1899, I cannot see the date on the painting, but it may well be there somewhere!  None of these paintings is referred to in the list of paintings below.

Suffolk Painters describes Hooper as: "A member of the Ipswich Art Club 1884-1901 exhibiting from East Bergholt, Suffolk in 1884, five watercolours 'Barden Tower and Moors, near Bolton Abbey', 'Church of the Trinity, Falaise, Normandy', 'Old River, East Bergholt', 'Barden Tower from the North' and 'Stoke Church' and in 1885 had eleven watercolours on show including 'Nayland from the River', 'Valley Farm, Flatford', 'Old Castle, Little Wenham', 'Old River Bridge, East Bergholt', 'The Grove, Capel', 'Road by Hintlesham Hall', 'Old House, Flatford', 'Nacton Heath, near Decoy', 'Spring Time', 'Barns at Stratford St Mary' and 'The Church Porch, East Bergholt' and continued to exhibit and at their 1974 centenary show his watercolour 'Man goeth Forth to his Work' was on display. He also exhibited six works at the Society of British Artists 1870-1882 including a 'View in Devon', ‘Morning Grey’ and ‘Twilight’ and five works at the Royal Academy 1879-1891 including views in Nayland and East Bergholt churches, Suffolk and ‘A Shepherd Boy’s Pastime’ and ‘The Bird-Scarer’s Breakfast’. "

Perhaps Luther Hooper knew Henry George Hine the Vice President of the Royal Institute, and Maude Egerton King and Ethel Blount's father, which might have been a motivation behind moving to Haslemere.

The Thames Embankment,
Luther Hooper
from http://www.askart.com/artist/Luther_Hooper/11107852/Luther_Hooper.aspx#


‘Nocturne’ by Luther HooperLots Road power station, Chelseafrom Pinterest


Children in Dappled Woodland Sunshine, 1899
from Metropress

3 comments:

  1. Dappled woodland sunshine-always our favourite
    Well done Kate for giving us so much inspiration for the New Year

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Dunc! Looking forward to maybe completing my research write-up on this in 2018!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have been following Luther Hooper for a number of years ever since my father left me four of his London river side pencil sketches. I have also obtained three of his picture post cards which I feel were carried out whilst in France. One was sent home by a soldier on 12 11 1918! I am missing just one in the series.
    Whilst his books on weaving are still 'best sellers' he was an excellent artist.
    Geoff Pavey Hampshire

    ReplyDelete

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