Jean Cooke: Delight in the Thing Seen: Ruth Borchard Collection in partnership with Jerwood Gallery, Hastings

Ruth Borchard Original Collection artist Jean Cooke RA (1927-2008) is to be the subject of a ground-breaking new exhibition, at the Jerwood Gallery, Hatings. 

Jean Cooke: Delight in the Thing Seen will offer a rare glimpse into Cooke’s life and work, celebrating her quirky lyrical vision and drawing together works that explore the different aspects of her artistic practice.

Paintings, photographs and personal items provide the basis of an intimate look at one of Modern British art’s finest and most enigmatic exponents, featuring works never before seen in public.

Delight in the Thing Seen includes paintings that relate to her family and personal life, local landscapes and seascapes, still lifes, and a powerful self-portrait.

Cooke said ‘Everything that happens when I open my eyes [each morning] is a surprise. It’s like dying and coming alive again every day’. When asked why she painted, Cooke replied: ‘It is some sort of love, some sort of devotion. More nun-like than a devouring of life, but still an untiring use of eyes and mind to concoct images… a continuous delight in the thing seen.’

Jean Cooke: Delight in the Thing Seen is at Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, until 10 September 2017.