Posted 10 years ago
Sian
(1 item)
I picked up this pastel drawing of an English industrial canal side scene in a charity shop in Cardigan, west Wales, I loved it & had no hesitation in paying £4 for it! I grew up in the industrial English Midlands - the Black Country - so called because everything was covered in soot & grime from foundries & factories & famous for having more canals than Venice, the birthplace of the industrial revolution. My family lived & worked there from at least the early 1780's & this picture reminds me very much of my childhood & family history.
It's a nicely executed drawing & is signed SK Cope 28. I have been trying to find out anything I could about it & the artist -largely without success. Someone from the National Trust in England has suggested it might be by Sidney Keates Cope (father of Leslie Cope) who was an artist & ceramicist from the Staffordshire potteries & who moved to Ohio in the early 1930's. I can't seem to find out anything about him in England, possibly because he moved to the US.
I don't know if anyone has any information about this artist or can shed any light on his work or point me in the right direction but if they can, I'd be very interested to hear it.
Regards, Sian, Tregaron, Wales, UK
Sian, You are correct...S.K. Cope is indeed Sidney Keats Cope. He was born in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in 1882 or '83. And he was indeed the father of artist, Leslie Cope.
The family came to the States in the early 1930s and Sidney, first, and then his son, Leslie as well, became the designers for The Nelson McCoy Pottery Company in Roseville, Ohio.
There recently was an auction of items from Leslie's estate, which included a few works By Sidney. I purchased a couple of those and would be interested in perhaps purchasing your item as well. If you are interested, please let me know.
Here is a link to an article about the auction. In the 2nd picture, you will see paintings leaning up against the weal...well, we bought the 1st and the 4th. Both works by Sidney.
Thanks.
There recently was an estate auction of Leslie Cope's belongings, and there were
Sorry, I forgot the link:
http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20140222/NEWS01/302220030/Leslie-Cope-auction-draws-fans-from-near-far
Hi Margogram, many thanks for replying to me. Since posting this I have found out quite a lot about SK Cope, from people in Ohio & from Stoke Archives in England. I'm still trying to find out about his time in the Potteries where he trained, worked etc before he emigrated, whether he served in the the Great War & whether that influenced his decision to leave. Of course the Wall Street crash was just around the corner so maybe that was a factor - who knows? Finding these details out is difficult as there were so many ceramic artists in the Stoke area at this time, including of course, people like Clarice Cliff (they both studied at Burslem art school, Cliff was 15 years his junior so they wouldn't have been there at the same time. Cope was noted as one its most outstanding students). In the 1911 census, aged 26, he was listed as a Pottery Modeler, in 1929, the year after he produced my picture, the passenger lists of the Franconia headed for New York, has him as a teacher aged 45. What did he do in the intervening years I wonder? I didn't know he was born in Hanley but that makes sense so thanks for that; I might be able to find a birth certificate. I have seen those photos of the 2 pictures you own, the Bridge at Zanesville & City Scene & I was sure they were by the same hand, I liked those a lot. I hadn't considered selling my picture, I love it (I'm looking at it now, it's hanging above my desk) & it cost a fair bit to re-mount & re-frame, I suppose it would depend on what you offered. Maybe you could e-mail me? sian420@hotmail.com But - if you have any more information about Cope's life & work or could point me in the right direction I'd be really grateful. I'd really like to see a photo of the man himself, there must be one from his time in Roseville. Also, if it's not too cheeky maybe you could send me a photo of the signatures on your pictures so I can compare them to mine? Again, many thanks for replying to me. I can't tell you how fascinating it has been finding out the history of this little picture, how it fetched up in a thrift shop in West Wales will always be a mystery but I'm really glad it did.