Australian Aboriginal artist Revel Ronald Cooper was born c1934, at Katanning, Western Australia. After his mother died when he was aged 6, he was placed in Carrolup Native Settlement and at the settlement school learnt art, music, dance and story telling. Drawings and paintings by Carrolup children were exhibited in Perth in 1947 and Sydney in 1948. The Carrolup School also attracted the attention of a visiting Englishwoman, Florence Rutter, who arranged for a selection of work to tour Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the Netherlands. The 1952 publication by Mary Durack and Rutter Child Artists of the Australian Bush contributed to national and international recognition for the Carrolup School. After schooling, he was initially employed with a commercial art firm in Perth, before returning to the Katanning area where he worked as a farm labourer and as a railway fettler. After a conviction for manslaughter in 1952 and serving a jail term of 4 years he lived 'on the road'. During the 1960s and 1970s Cooper painted prolifically and exhibited, punctuated by prison sentences in Western Australia and Victoria. He died tragically in Buxton, Victoria in 1983, the victim of a murder.
We have records of art auction sales by Revel Ronald Cooper from 1980 and in total 41 works by the artist have been offered for sale, of which 32 (78%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $5,750 for Road Through the Hills sold by GFL Fine Art in December 2020. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2022. Works by Revel Ronald Cooper are held by the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
Revel Ronald Cooper is not listed in any of the standard biographical references listed on our references page.
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
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