Julian Cooper, recognised as Britain’s leading living mountain painter, will be featured in a TV documentary series about the Lake District which starts next week.
BBC One’s The Lakes with Paul Rose starts on Friday July 20 at 7.30pm, with the opening episode focusing on Windermere. Adventurer, explorer and TV presenter Paul Rose has filmed around the globe, but he has long wanted to create a series in the Lake District, his home for the last 20 years.
In the second episode (July 27) which concentrates on Borrowdale, Julian is interviewed by Paul Rose while painting the Bowder Stone. This is one of the Lake District’s most famous and curious features, a 2000 ton stone, some 30 feet high and fifty feet across, which apparently rests in a state of delicate balance.
It was not carried into the area by ice but is a local rock that toppled into its present position after the glacier that once almost filled Borrowdale retreated and no longer buttressed the steep side of the valley. This resulted in a large rock fall. Other rocks that fell at the same time are now largely obscured by trees and soil.
In the TV episode Julian talks to Paul Rose about the rock, and about his interest in it as an artist.
Paul then goes on further into Borrowdale, and climbs Great Gable. It’s a four part series which, at last, truly captures the essence of the majesty of the Lake District landscape, thanks to sensitive direction and production values, stunning camera-work, and a presenter who knows and loves what he’s talking about.
Truly captures the essence of the majesty of the Lake District landscape, thanks to sensitive direction and production values, stunning camera-work, and a presenter who knows and loves what he’s talking about
“I’m very excited about the series because I live in the Lake District, it’s my home,” says Paul, who lives in Windermere. “I’ve filmed all over the world, but I’ve always wanted to film a series in the Lake District.”
The Inherited Landscape exhibition is a fascinating insight into three generations of artists dealing with the same landscape. Julian says: “Our way of looking at it has changed over time, and with different temperaments and differing attitudes to painting which influence how we see the natural world. I’ve chosen paintings which show the more wild and rocky aspects of the Lake District, and one can see that there are both continuities and differences between us.”
Alfred Heaton Cooper, who was recognised as one of the finest Victorian painters of his generation, established the studio back in 1905. His artist son William built the present gallery in Grasmere in 1938. For generations their paintings and books have influenced the way the landscape of the Lake District has been viewed, and the studio is recognised as one of Cumbria’s most distinguished galleries and the pre-eminent centre for landscape art in the Lake District.
Julian Cooper says that one of the differences is that the landscapes of his father and grandfather made paintings of a “view” whereas in his own work he’s interested in focussing on what is at touching distance, with a rough edge to it. His own four paintings of the intimate and mysterious relationship between rocks and trees are all set within a mile of each other on High and Low Rigg, representing “the raw materials of Lakeland”.
“My father’s work by comparison represented nature as ordered, calm and serene, and very beautiful.”
With unique access across a wide range of expert fields, Paul Rose is constantly working to raise awareness of global issues such as the understanding and protection of our ecosystems, biodiversity, climate change and sustainability.
He was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s 2018 Founder’s Medal, for scientific expeditions and enhancing public understanding, one of the Royal Medals approved by the Queen, which are among the highest honours of their kind in the world. Previous recipients include Sir David Attenborough.
His career has also included educational talks in the desert, moderating the human performance debates at the London 2012 Olympics, and presenting the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
