Gladys Cooper (1899–1975) was a British naïve painter whose work was recognized by Theodore Major, a noted Lancashire artist, when Cooper took a course with him at the age of 52.[1] Cooper was born in Liverpool, but spent most of her life in Preston, Lancashire.[2]
She worked in oil paint, starting with a picture (or partial picture) in a sketch book.[1] "She said she had never had a drawing lesson, so did not know much about perspective and shading, and couldn't draw people very well so that was why she often did back views."[1] "All her paintings, no matter how simple in their make-up, are shot through and through with haunting echoes of what she called 'our sinister times'."[2] She exhibited at London's Grosvenor Gallery and Portal Gallery.[1] Examples of her paintings from The Whitworth (Manchester), Glasgow Museums Resource Center, and Salford Museum and Art Gallery can be seen on Art UK.[3]