Jennifer Gough-Cooper Biographical Notes
Formative years were spent at Farningham in Kent, England; Jennifer was educated at boarding schools in Sussex and Kent.
1948-49
Visited South Africa: the beginning of the family’s close associations with the country. After their arrival by ship in Cape Town, the family lived in Forest Town, Johannesburg, while Jennifer’s father, a house builder, formed a company.
1961
Studied portrait photography with Dorothy Wilding and Walter Bird, London.
1962
Attended the Samuel Palmer School of Fine Art, Shoreham, Kent.
1963
Commenced studies for the Diploma of Art & Design at Camberwell School of Art, graduating from Hornsey College of Art, London, 1967.
1969
Joined the team at the Richard Demarco Gallery, Edinburgh.
1970
Curated Strategy: Get Arts with the Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf: the Demarco Gallery’s contribution to the Edinburgh Festival, an exhibition which included the active participation of Joseph Beuys, Robert Filliou, Palermo, Daniel Spoerri, Andre Thomkins, and other artists living in Dusseldorf at that date.
1972
As a member of Harald Szeeman’s team, helped install Documenta 5 in Kassel, Germany, then moved to Paris.
1973
With Jacques Caumont helped plan and make short films for French TV with Christian Boltanski, Jean Le Gac and Gilbert & George; invited with Caumont to curate the Yves Klein exhibition for the Tate Gallery, London
1974
Invited by Pontus Hulten, Director of the Musée National d’Art et de Culture, Paris, to research and prepare with Jacques Caumont an introduction to the Marcel Duchamp retrospective, inaugural exhibition of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, which opened in January 1977.
1975
Moved to Hautot-le-Vatois, in the Seine-Maritime, France.
1977
Co-author of Chronologie, one of 4 volumes of the Marcel Duchamp catalogue, CNAC Georges Pompidou, Paris.
Co-founded with Jacques Caumont the Académie de Muséologie Evocatoire, Yvetot, an association that published an erratic magazine through the 1980s. Meanwhile, continued biographical research on Marcel Duchamp in Europe and the USA.
1990
Invited by Pontus Hulten to complete the Ephéméridés for the Duchamp exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi, Venice 1993: published in Marcel Duchamp: Bompiani, Milan; Thames & Hudson, London; and MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
1996
Commenced photographing sculpture at the Rodin Museum, Hôtel Biron, Paris
1997
Completed a tour of southern hemisphere via Chile, Easter Island, Fiji, Western Samoa, New Zealand, and Australia.
Settled in Cape Town for two years, and started photographing the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, in black and white.
Founded Wild Almond Press with Janene Barnard.
1999
Exhibited Kirstenbosch photographs at the Old Mutual Centre, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town.
Returned to live in the UK, at the family home in Farningham, Kent: Wildacres.
Visited Markus Raetz in Bern and photographed his studio.
2001
Began building a photographic record of neighbouring Farningham Woods, including its flora.
Visited Schoenthal, Langenbrück, Switzerland, at the time of the exhibition Paths, and photographed the sculpture standing in the landscape.
2002
Commenced research in the family archive to write a biography of her father, Harry Gough-Cooper.
Started making regular visits to the Karoo gathering material for Origins.
2003
Accepted a residency at Bundanon, New South Wales.
2004
Exhibition, The Nature of Place, was held at Schoenthal, Switzerland.
2006
Publication of Apropos Rodin by Thames & Hudson on the occasion of the Rodin exhibition at the Royal Academy. In the RA, in annexe to Rodin, eight photographs were exhibited.
2008
Selected images from Apropos Rodin were exhibited at the Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica.
2011
Publication of Origins by Wild Almond Press.
2014
Moved to Cape Town following the death of her mother, Vivien Gough-Cooper, and the sale of Wildacres.
2016
Publication of Harry, an illustrated biography of WH Gough-Cooper, 1907-1975, by Wild Almond Press.