Barrie Cooke

n an age when the young painter with talent is more often than not won over by the forces of abstract or non-objective art, it is an increasingly rare pleasure to run across a new artist who has talent and an interest in portraiture at the same time. In his first one-man show at the Behn-Moore Gallery, Barrie Cooke shows that he has both.

Although the 34 oils that make up the major part of the show cover subjects ranging from landscapes to the entrails cart of a Martinique slaughterhouse, Cooke is at his best in a half-dozen portraits. Probably the best of these is his Portrait of Ernst Benkert, executed with bold brushwork in a subdued but powerful palette.

The confidence with which Cooke has worked out this canvas and the triptych Tower of Babel, which is undoubtedly the show's tour de force, contrasts markedly with a certain indecisive quality which harms some of his earlier pictures. This weakness is most evident in an apparent overworking of certain parts of some other portraits--especially in the region of the eyes. The result is an effect of dull lifelessness, which, although effective in the Portrait of Helene Swindells, is generally disturbing.

But the speed with which Cooke's style is developing has already climinated these and other flaws in the later paintings. From the earliest work in the show, Dry Mountain, Jamaica, (1951) to the Benkert portrait and Tower of Babel, he has come a long way in both technique and color. Almost sloppy, ineffective brushwork and a frightened approach to a Fauve palette in the former are resolved into a powerfully executed composition in the rich, dark colors, which Cooke now favors, in the latter.

A combination of increasing talent and an unusual sensitivity for personalities makes Cooke a portrait painter of considerable promise. His first show is a pleasant and encouraging display.