Exhibition: Jean Cooke: Ungardening

The first exhibition focusing on the magnificent garden paintings of Jean Esme Oregon Cooke RA (1927-2008).

The exhibition will explore Cooke’s paintings of her gardens: a wild, overgrown city plot in Blackheath, London and a clifftop meadow at her coastal Sussex cottage. Works will include paintings of trees and flowers, a poppy-strewn meadow, wildflowers against a backdrop of the sea, an orchard in bloom, and Cooke’s beloved doves. Her gardens were predominantly uncultivated as Cooke left nature to its own devices.

Over 30 works will be on display, including newly discovered paintings from both public and private collections. The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue will provide the most comprehensive, in-depth exploration and analysis of Cooke’s life and art to date.