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An Eye for Nature

An Eye for Nature

The Life and Art of William T. Cooper

by Penny Olsen
Hardback
Publication Date: 01/03/2014

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'The best ornithological illustrator alive' -David Attenborough

In the work of artist William T.Cooper, platypuses swim in green underwater worlds, waves throw up blankets of spray, embers glow in the aftermath of a bushfire, a Thylacine emerges from the shadows, sniffing the air. But it is his paintings of birds which set Cooper apart-his raucous cockatoos, colourful parrots, animated turacos and flamboyantly displaying birds of paradise. Often placed in meticulously studied landscapes, these intricate bird portraits reveal Cooper's close observation not only of his subjects' appearance, but their habits, poses and behaviour.

In this biography, Penny Olsen traces the path of Cooper's life and art-from his childhood spent in the bush, to his teenage years as an apprentice taxidermist at Carey Bay Zoo and, later, to his work as a window dresser and landscape artist. She documents his fruitful partnership with wife and collaborator Wendy Cooper and his extensive travels in Australia and abroad in pursuit of his subjects.

ISBN:
9780642278463
9780642278463
Category:
Biography: arts & entertainment
Format:
Hardback
Publication Date:
01-03-2014
Publisher:
National Library of Australia
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
288
Dimensions (mm):
284x233mm
Weight:
1.72kg
Penny Olsen

Penny Olsen is one of the world's foremost authorities on raptors, and has contributed several chapters to the Handbook of Australian New Zealand and Antarctic Birds Vol 2 Raptors to Lapwings (OUP 1993) and Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol II (Lynx Editions 1994).

She has worked in the field on various birds of prey for nearly three decades, and published several books, including Australian Birds of Prey (UNSW Press 1995), Feather and Brush: Three Centuries of Australian Bird Art (CSIRO Publishing 2001) and Wedge-tailed Eagle (CSIRO Publishing 2006).

Currently she edits Wingspan, the quarterly membership magazine of Birds Australia, Australia s national birding organization and oldest conservation organization.

In 2004, she was awarded an H.L. White Fellowship at the National Library to research a book on the extinct Paradise Parrot, Glimpses of Paradise: The Quest for the Beautiful Parrakeet (National Library of Australia 2007).

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