Oil on canvas, 34 by 48 ins (86.3 by 122 cm)
Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1933, no.160; Bradford Museum and Art Galleries, the Cartwright Memorial Hall

Gerald Cooper?s ?Farmyard? of 1933 is possibly the artist?s masterpiece and should be considered amongst the greatest rutsically-inspired works by a British artist in the 1930s. Cooper, who was principle of Wimbledon   School of Art, is probably best known for his technically exceptional paintings of flowers which were exhibited at the Royal Academy nearly every year following the end of World War Two until his death. From 1921 Cooper studied at Royal College of Art, where he was a contemporary of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, being awarded the highly coveted Drawing Prize there in 1925. It was perhaps his style, latterly unfasionable, that prevented him from becoming a member of the Royal Academy despite exhibiting over seventy works there.