Obituary of Albert James Koop

Albert James Koop (1877–1937) was a leading expert in Japanese art, who joined the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1900 as an assistant. He became responsible for forming the important collection of Japanese metalwork, and in 1926 he was appointed Keeper of the Department of Metalwork.

From The Times, 9 October 1937

Mr A J Koop, formerly Keeper of the Department of Metalwork in the Victoria and Albert Museum, died at Napier Avenue, SW on February 8 [as announced in our later editions on Saturday].

Albert James Koop was born at Brighton on October 4, I877, the son of A H M Koop, He was educated at Brighton College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, and entered the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington as an assistant in 1900. There he eventually became responsible for forming the important collection of Japanese metalwork, and in 1926 he was appointed Keeper of the Department of Metalwork. He retired in October, 1937.

Koop was a leading authority on Japanese art and from 1920 was editor of the Japan Society's 'Transactions'. He had an excellent knowledge of the Japanese language and in 1923 wrote a useful work on the reading of Japanese names. His most notable publication, however, was 'Early Chinese Bronzes', issued in 1924. He contributed frequently to artistic periodicals.

During the latter part of his life Koop was much crippled with rheumatism and by the courageous way in which he continued his work he aroused the admiration, as well as the affection of his colleagues. In 1906 he married Inez Gertrude, daughter of the late Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke, then Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and they had two sons.

Reproduced with kind permission of The Times
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