Pick of the week

I am not altogether surprised that, until very recently, I had never come across the work of the potter and painter Waistel Cooper (1921–

2003), whose reputation has swung between acclaim and obscurity. As a student in Scotland, he was a talented portrait painter; in London, he was a leader in the hard-partying artistic set that included Bacon and Freud. After the Second World War, he went to Iceland, where he took to studio ceramics, but moved back when he could not find materials. He not only worked and exhibited alongside Rie and Coper, but was the leading figure as they found their

Modernist styles. Subsequently, he exhibited rarely until a major retrospective in 1984. His work was compared to Moore and Hepworth’s sculpture, but after his death his reputation faded once more. An excellent exhibition of his pots (left) runs at the Fine Art Society, 25 Carnaby Street, London W1 (until February 27, with a second show later in the year, www.thefineartsociety.com). Cooper was a master of texture and many of his pots are a joy in the hand. Prices range from £500 up to £20,000—remarkable considering the heights reached by Rie and Coper. I would urge any pot-lover who does not know his work to go.