Lot Essay
William Brooker enjoyed a long and successful teaching career, and among his students was Howard Hodgkin, who he taught at the Bath Academy of Art at Corsham. Hodgkin described his mentor as `the only real teacher I ever had ... he made one feel that painting was a very important occupation. Quite unique. No one else seemed a bit like that. He was a great teacher' (see N. Wadley, exhibition catalogue, William Brooker Retrospective, Newcastle Polytechnic, 1987).