William Edward James Cook was a painter, illustrator, teacher, art critic and gallery curator. Known as James (or Jimmy) Cook, he was born in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1904. His brother Alfred Cook was also an artist; he was married to the painter Rita Angus.
James Cook studied at Canterbury College of School of Art in 1920-24 (Canterbury University School of Art in the 1950s). In 1925, Cook won the Sawtell Travelling Scholarship and for two years, studied and travelled in London (where he shared rooms with William Dobell) and Edinburgh, Paris and Rome.
Cook returned to New Zealand in 1929, where he taught at his alma mater. He was a member of 'The Group’ in the early 1930s, exhibiting at shows in 1931 and 1932. The Group was an informal association formed in Christchurch in 1927 by former students of Canterbury College of School of Art.
In around 1933, he returned to Europe with his wife Ruth, painting in England, France and Spain. Shortly after the start of World War 2, Cook ‘joined the British Ministry of Information as a war artist’. He returned to Australia in circa 1940-41, teaching at East Sydney Technical College (ESTC) in 1940. For two years at the start of the war, he 'was engaged on camouflage work for the Department of the Interior’. In March 1944, he was appointed the official war artist for the Australian Comforts Fund, in Papua New Guinea.
Cook was appointed 'Curator of the Perth Art Gallery’ in 1949, taking up the role in March 1950. He was art critic Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 1952-59.
James Cook died of pneumonia while travelling in Italy in 1960. A meticulous painter and fine draughtsman, his work includes Two Tramps 1932, pencil, NERAM (ill. McCulloch, 178); Coffee Stall, London , WWII wash drawing, AGNSW, purchased 1942.
This entry is a stub. You can help DAAO by submitting a biography.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
Lalla_Maus
- Date written:
- 1996
- Last updated:
- 2021
