News and upcoming exhibitions
New exhibition:
Women in Revolt!
Art & Activism in the UK
Tate Britain
8 November 2023 – 7 April 2024
A major survey of feminist art over 100 women artists working in the UK – the first of its kind. It explores how networks of women used radical ideas and rebellious methods to make an invaluable contribution to British culture. Through their creative practices, women’s liberation was forged against the backdrop of extreme social, economic and political change.
Cooper says how thrilled she is to be represented in this ground breaking exhibition by this early work which is part of a series of large drawings made in 1979-80.
Figures on Ladder
1979
In 1980 her drawing Figures on Ladder was included in Women’s Images of Men, one of three major exhibitions of women’s art held at the ICA that year. Through metaphorical and allegorical paintings, Cooper’s practice explores ideas around motherhood, sexuality, love and death, often with autobiographical allusions.
New interview
Studio International, August 2023
‘I’d always avoided looking back … but it’s been fascinating’
As her previously unseen early works on paper exhibits at Huxley-Parlour in London, Cooper talks about the importance of drawing, the women’s movement, and the relevance of these particular intimate images to the development of her style – and about looking back as she turns 70.
Clued In (Following in Footsteps)
1980
New publication
Eileen Cooper: Body & Soul Sketchbook
Published by The Royal Academy of Arts
Buy the book
This new hardback sketchbook reveals Cooper’s fascination with the female body in various media, from pencil and crayon to charcoal and gouache.
New acquisition to the Katrin Bellinger Collection
Self Portrait with Coloured Pastels
View the collection
This piece has been acquired by Katrin Bellinger Collection as part of ‘a conscious decision to buy more contemporary art with a focus on female artists’.
‘I fell for this pastel drawing by Eileen as she consciously depicts herself in the mirror, a tool often disguised in self portraits. I love the pastels scattered on the table around the mirror’s foot which could also be read as lipsticks adding a feminine touch.’
Self Portrait with Coloured Pastels
2019
Acquisition to the Tate Gallery
Woman Examining her Shadow, 1989-90
This major painting of Cooper’s has been acquired by Tate as part of their permanent collection. First exhibited in 1990, the painting was in a private collection for over a decade before eventually returning to her. Personally, it is a hugely significant work and she is delighted it is now with Tate.
Woman Examining her Shadow
1989-90
New book
Parallel Lines: Eileen Cooper
Texts by Kathleen Soriano, Linsey Young
Available to buy now
View exhibition page
Reflecting on Cooper’s artistic experiences – which, in the words of Linsey Young ‘disrupt the neat patriarchal understandings of women’ – this thoughtfully designed and elegant hard back book brings together for the first time early works illustrated alongside previously unseen works including drawings, paintings, prints, ceramics and portraits, many of which will be a surprise to readers.
Hospital Rooms
Bethlem Royal Hospital, Beckenham, Bethlem Mother & Baby Unit
Family Room, Bethlem MBU (Mother and Baby Unit), for the Hospital Rooms project at South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Bethlem MBU is a specialist perinatal mental health unit.
Photography: Damian Griffiths
Acquisition to The National Portrait Gallery
The National Portrait Gallery has acquired two of Cooper’s drawings for its permanent collection.
Cathie Pilkington RA
2018
Self portrait in black dress
2019
Back to top
© 2023 Eileen Cooper