Hubert Coop RBA
'Chalk at Dover' Oil on canvas by Hubert Coop RBA 1893 - 1953. Donated to The Burton Art Gallery 1951
Born at Olney, Buckinghamshire, in 1873, the son of the Rev. Thomas
Coop. He was educated at Birmingham and Wolverhampton, and was elected
to the Royal Society of British Artists at the age of 22. His paintings
both in oil and watercolour, tend to fall into two groups: those painted
quickly out of doors, and those painted in the studio in more detail.
Hubert Coop came to Bideford in the late 1920's and stayed 'because he enjoyed the subjects he found on the estuary, the river valleys and the neighbourhood, and his paintings inevitably captured the clear beauty and colour he saw there.' (Bideford Gazette 1953). He had exhibited at the Royal Academy, Liverpool, Glasgow and Manchester. In Bideford he helped to promote the development of the visual arts, and became Vice - President of what is now the Westward Ho! and Bideford Art Society.
Throughout his life he amassed a fine collection of paintings, porcelain and antiques, and because he felt that there was a special appreciation of the arts in Bideford, he left his collection to the town, provided that it would be 'properly housed'. He was eventually instrumental in assisting Thomas Burton, Mayor, Alderman, Freeman of the Borough, and philanthropist, to build the Burton Art Gallery in memory of his daughter, Mary, who died in 1949. The Coop collection was truly 'properly housed'. Throughout his life he amassed a fine collection of paintings, porcelain and antiques, and
he left his collection to the town, provided that it would be 'properly housed'. He was eventually instrumental in assisting Thomas Burton, Mayor, Alderman, Freeman of the Borough, and philanthropist, to build the Burton Art Gallery in memory of his daughter, Mary, who died in 1949. The Coop collection was truly 'properly housed'. The Gallery architect was Frank Whiting, who also designed Coop's home on Goats Hill, Northam, overlooking the river. Hubert Coop died in 1953 aged 80. In his obituary in the Bideford Gazette, January 1953, it was said: ' His generosity in connection with the starting of the Burton Gallery will be a lasting reminder...'
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