When Sir David Attenborough, the beloved and iconic naturalist is the ‘host’ , and he’s interviewing a wildlife artist , you know that ‘artist’ can only be impressive. Enter William T Cooper, an Australian with rare and complete talent in bringing birds and all things natural to…. life. In one part of the interview, Attenborough asked ‘Bill’ why he spent so much effort on the bird’s feathers? Replied Bill – I care about the detail of life.
Cooper was born in 1934 in Newcastle, NSW, so fully Australian but he ventured beyond these shores to places including PNG where he was inspired to draw and paint some say his greatest works. Later the government of PNG commissioned Cooper to create two stamps with beautiful birds of paradise.
What is interesting is was originally a self-taught landscape and seaside artist but over time achieved renown through scientifically-correct paintings. Whilst he was a key bird nerd, he also produced superb , detailed images of plants, the most recent with his wife Wendy, a botanist.
