COKER, Peter

1926 - 2004

Peter Godfrey Coker was born at St Pancras, London on 27 July 1926, son of Edwin Henry Coker (3 January 1900-12 May 1980), a car & lorry driver, and his wife Elsie Violet née Goode (15 October 1899-17 November 1987), who married at Poplar, London in 1923 and in 1939 were living at Collier Row, Romford, Essex. Peter grew up in Havering, Essex where he acquired a love of music from his mother and knowledge of engraving from his maternal grandfather, Henry Goode (1863-1929), who was a stencil engraver. Coker was educated at Pettit's School, near Havering, leaving school early to work in his father's confectionery firm, but he found employment with the book publishing part of Odhams Press, fetching artwork, helping with the lettering for jackets and taking evening classes at St Martin's School of Art 1941-1943. He then served three years in the Fleet Air Arm and in 1946 returned full-time at St Martin’s to complete his studies after which in 1949, he travelled to France and Italy and fell under the influence of the nineteenth-century Realist painter, Gustave Courbet (1819-1877). He then studied at the Royal College of Art in London 1950-1954, being awarded both a Royal College of Art and British Institution Scholarship 1951-1953. A tutor at St Martin's School of Art 1954-1973 and afterwards at the City and Guilds of London Art School until 1985. During his years in London, he became friends with Derrick Greaves (born 1927), John Randall Bratby (1928-1992), Edward Middleditch (1923-1987) and Jack Smith (1928-2011), part of a group devoted to scenes of domestic life under the name Kitchen Sink School 1942-1957. Peter was fascinated by everyday scenes, landscapes and still-life but became known for his paintings of stylised and bloodless animal carcasses which were memory images of a butchers near his home in Leytonstone. As well as oils he worked in charcoal, pencil and chalk and made several prints. Elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1965 and a Royal Academician in 1972. He married at Romford in 1951, Vera Joyce Crook (1928-18 December 2013) and they had a son Nicholas (1952-1985). They moved to Manningtree, Essex in 1962 and was a member of the Colchester Art Society 1959-1979. He exhibited widely including at Zwemmer Gallery, London; Piccadilly Gallery, South London Art Gallery; Museum and Art Gallery, Northampton; Minories, Colchester; Stable Studio at Lower Ufford, near Woodbridge, Suffolk and elsewhere. His work is present in many public collections including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the British Museum, the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Peter Coker died in Colchester, Essex, on 16 December 2004. He published a book 'Etching Techniques' (1976).

Royal Academy Exhibits
from c/o The Piccadilly Gallery, 16a Cork Street, West London
1955 714 Ystrad Rhondda, South Wales - watercolour
from 1 Moyers Road, Leyton, East London
1956 348 Butcher's Shop
         440 Butcher's Shop II
         592 Sheep Carcas on Bench
1957 446 Entretrat
         502 Apple Tree
1960 100 Forest No. 1
         169 Seascape
         201 Forest No. 4
1961 460 Gorse Bush
         468 White Buoys, Audierrne
         482 Forest No. 8
1962 133 Tree and Hedge No. 1
         356 Brittany Landscape
from The Red House, New Road, Mistley, Essex
1963 82 Waves and Rock
         900 Forest – charcoal
         997 Waves and Rock - charcoal
1964 82 Waves and Rock
         900 Forest – charcoal
         997 Waves and Rock - charcoal
1965 152 Suffolk Landscape
         156 Aldeburgh
         487 Rendlesham Forest
1966 77 Mountain Stream, Pyrénées
         78 Judas Gap
         79 Garden Copse
         80 Pyrénées Cave
         540 Mountain Street, Pyrénées No 3
         864 Apple Tree
1967 569 Forest, 1959
         570 Still Life with Hare, 1958
         571 Clouds over the sea
         573 Tunstall Forest
         1050 Epping Forest – conté and charcoal
         1061 Rendlesham Fores – conté and charcoal
1968 80 Audierne
         425 Waterfall, Malham
         434 Weir, Josselin
         762 Running Stream, Malham
         766 Evening Sea
         914 Evening, Malham
1969 27 Evening, Durness
         94 Night: Malham
         427 Seascale
         569 Near Durness
         811 Low Tide: Seascale
         1037 Kyle of Durness
1970 89 The Stour from Cattawade
         585 Towards Old Cate Moor Top
         586 Moor Fell End from Starbotton
         592 Clouds over Cross Fell
         654 Black Burn - chalk
         671 Waterfall, Tynehead – chalk
1971 475 Moor End Fell, Starbotton
         476 Trees at Leadgate
         477 Blackburn and the South Tyne
         478 Dewley Fell near Alston
         521 View from Ivy Cottage
         876 Behind Leadgate
1972 238 Trees, Leadgate - pencil
         505 The Balcony, Aldeburgh
         867 Behind Leadgate
         962 Epping Forest – etching & aquatint
         988 Seascale – etching & aquatint
         992 Low Force- etching
1973 91 Stripping Haricots at Molins
         511 Man carrying Pig, 1955
         524 Gorse Bushes, 1957
         571 Mollans-sur-Ouveze
         578 Sheep Carcases on Bench
         947 Sault
1974 36 Mouthier-Haute-Pierre
         71 Picking Pears at Mouthier
         517 Mont Ventoux in Mist from Reilhanette
         551 Garden at Mistley
         554 St Elaise, Mezieres-au-Perche
         555 Balcony at Aldeburgh
1975 63 Evening; Train Ferry Pier, Harwich
         104 Rain, Rainbow and Stormy Seas, North Cliff, Whitby
         494 Ostend, The Café
         503 The Maltings: Wednesday 16th June 1971
         874 The Rainbow, Barmouth
         928 East Yorkshire Moors
1976 349 page missing
         352 page missing
         1011 Waterfall from Cader Idris – pencil & sanguine
         1013 Lastours II – pencil & sanguine
         1014 Mollas-sur-Ouveze– pencil & sanguine
         1015 Lastours I – pencil & sanguine
1977 179 Clouds over the sun, Carsaigh, Mull
         180 Clouds over the sea, Carsaigh, Mull
         221 Balnakeil, Sutherland
         243 Mouthier Haute Pierre, Jura
         297 La Manneporte, Etretat
         427 La Manneporte, Etretat
1978 100 Dark Sea, Carsaig
         107 Study for ‘La Plage’ Etretat
         489 Olive Trees, Bargemon
         494 Studio Window
         1364 Callas
1979 81 Etretat: The Beach
         89 Etretat: The Yellow Diving Board
         94 Antibes: Palm
         690 Bargemon: The Window
         691 Etretat: The Balcony
         1058 Bargemon: Olives
1981 47 Agave
         73 Palm Arbpir. Chateau Garden
1983 165 Claviers: Pages from Sketch-Book – pen and watercolour
         166 Aurel: Pages from Sketch-Book – pen and watercolour
         170 Aurel: Pages from Sketch-Book – pen and watercolour
         247 Chez Arcadio
         700 Blue Enclosure
         952 Arbour – ink and wash
1984 110 not the correct image
1986 194 Window, Aldeburgh
         511 Towards Tanera Mor
         529 Foret de Landevennec
         531 Bargemon, April
         608 Achvraie from Tigh A’Sgoibair
         649 Bamboo Pathway
1987 159 Rowans, Badenscallie
         434 Terrace, Le Vieux Chateau towards Claviers
         435 Abandoned Sheepcroft, Badenscallie
1988 417 Mending Salmon Nets
1989 8 Badenscallie
         36 Harold Brown’s Croft
         59 Balcony, Bergemon
         547 Achiltibuei
         885 Peat Landscape, Achiltibuei
1990 82 The Quirang
         527 Mending Salmon Nets No 12
         531 Salmon Nets No 7
         1136 Salmon Nets No 4
1991 465 Salmon Nets, Badentarbat
         466 Salmon Nets, Achilribuie
         513 Salmon Nets, Badentarbat
         514 Salmon Net Poles, Bardentarbat
         1215 Badenscallie
         1220 Cap de la Chevre
1992 530 Fenêtre Ouverte a Menton - oil
         1010 Towards Tanera Mor
         1060 Harvest, Normandy
1993 835 Vueles les Roses
         852 London from Cranley Gardens
         880 Marine, Varengeville
         881 Cornfield, St Margueritte-sur-Mer
         882 Vuelses les Roses
1994 7 Le Peintre de Travail, 1988 – pastel, chalk & conté
         9 Le Peintre de Travail, 1988 – pastel, chalk & conté
         71 Chrossavaig, Skye 1970 - conté
         72 Coigach, 1988 - charcoal
         73 The Quirang, Skye, 1970 - charcoal
         1277 The Quirang, Skye, 1982 - sanguine
1995 753 Low Force, Teesdale – etching & open bite
         754 Seascale - – etching & aquatint
         755 Malham Night -etching & aquatint
         756 Epping Forest - etching
         1157 Yorkshire Landscape – etching & aquatint
         1159 Low Force, Teesdale – etching & open bite
1996 3 La Floret – pen & watercolour
         20 Salmon Net Poles, N.W. Scotland -watercolour & Chinese white
         21 Chrossavaig, Skye - watercolour
         34 Mending Salmon Nets – mixed media
1997 621 Forest I – oil
1998 255 Epping Forest – etching
         256 Yorkshire Landscape – etching
         770 The Seine, La Roche Guyon – Chinese ink
2003 653 Paris at Night from the Hotel Châtelet - lithograph
         659 Paris at Night from the Hotel Châtelet towards the Eiffel Tower – oil over lithograph
         660 Paris at Night from the Hotel Châtelet – oil over lithograph
         695 Pont au Change, Paris - lithograph
         773 Pont au Change - oil
         784 Towards the Pont Neuf from the Hotel Châtelet - oil
The late Peter Coker
2005 662 Red Interior – oil
         664 The Grand Staircase, Clos du Peyronnet – oil
         665 Salmon Nets, Badenturbut - oil
         666 Garden Pond, Mistley - oil

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Works by This Artist