Peter Coker, RA (1926-2004) was a well-known painter, draughtsman, printmaker and teacher.  He was born in London, and studied at St Martin's School of Art 1947-50, then Royal College of Art, 1950-54, winning a Royal Scholarship 1951.  A British Institution Scholarship followed in 1954.  From 1954-1973 Coker taught at St Martin's School of Art in central London.  When he left college Coker became associated with the Kitchen Sink realist painters and had the first of a number of shows at Zwemmer Gallery in 1956.  In 1962 he participated in the Arts Council Touring Exhibition British Painting 1950-1957 and in 1966 in another Arts Council Show, Painters in East Anglia.  By then his attention had been diverted from the early butcher's shop subjects to landscape.   He showed regularly with the Thackeray Gallery for many years.  Coker exhibited at the Royal Academy extensively from 1950 and in 1972 he was elected a full Royal Academician.  In that year he had a retrospective exhibition at The Minories, Colchester and a further show followed at Chelmsford and Essex Museum in 1978.  His work is held in a large number of public collections including the Tate Gallery, Museums Sheffield and Colchester & Ipswich Museums Service.  The artist lived in Mistley, Essex.