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| birth_name =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1856|3|8}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1856|3|8}}
| birth_place = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]
| birth_place = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1937|11|6|1856|3|8}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1937|11|6|1856|3|8}}
| death_place = [[Santa Barbara, California]]
| death_place = [[Santa Barbara, California]], U.S.
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
| field = Painting ([[Oil painting|oil]], [[Watercolor painting|watercolor]])
| field = Painting ([[Oil painting|oil]], [[Watercolor painting|watercolor]])
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}}
}}


'''Colin Campbell Cooper, Jr.''' (March 8, 1856 – November 6, 1937) was an [[American Impressionism|American Impressionist]] painter, perhaps most renowned for his [[architectural painting]]s, especially of [[skyscraper]]s in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. An avid traveler, he was also known for his paintings of European and Asian landmarks, as well as natural landscapes, portraits, florals, and [[Interior portrait|interiors]]. In addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher and writer. His first wife, [[Emma Lampert Cooper]], was also a highly regarded painter.
'''Colin Campbell Cooper, Jr.''' (March 8, 1856 – November 6, 1937) was an [[American Impressionism|American impressionist]] painter of [[architectural painting]]s, especially of [[skyscraper]]s in [[New York City]], [[Philadelphia]], and [[Chicago]]. An avid traveler, he was also known for his paintings of European and Asian landmarks, as well as natural landscapes, portraits, florals, and [[Interior portrait|interiors]]. In addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher and writer. His first wife, [[Emma Lampert Cooper]], was also a highly regarded painter.


==Background and education==
==Early life and education==
Colin Campbell Cooper, Jr. was born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], on March 8, 1856, into a well-to-do family of [[England|English]]-[[Ireland|Irish]] heritage.<ref name="rlw59"/> He had four older and four younger siblings. His mother, Emily Williams Cooper, whose ancestor emigrated to the U.S. from [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]], England,<ref name="whg13"/> was an amateur painter in watercolors.<ref name="hma"/> His father, Dr. Colin Campbell Cooper, whose grandfather came from [[Derry]], Ireland,<ref name="whg13"/> was a surgeon<ref name="dbd"/> and a lawyer with a great appreciation for the arts. Young Colin had been inspired by the art which he discovered when he attended the [[Philadelphia Exposition of 1876]]. Both of his parents were highly supportive of his ambitions, encouraging him to become an artist.<ref name="rlw59"/>
Cooper was born in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], on March 8, 1856, into a well-to-do family of [[England|English]]-[[Ireland|Irish]] heritage.<ref name="rlw59"/> He had four older and four younger siblings. His mother, Emily Williams Cooper, whose ancestor emigrated to the U.S. from [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]], England,<ref name="whg13"/> was an amateur painter in watercolors.<ref name="hma"/> His father, Dr. Colin Campbell Cooper, whose grandfather came from [[Derry]], Ireland,<ref name="whg13"/> was a surgeon<ref name="dbd"/> and a lawyer with a great appreciation for the arts. Young Colin had been inspired by the art which he discovered when he attended the [[Philadelphia Exposition of 1876]]. Both of his parents were highly supportive of his ambitions, encouraging him to become an artist.<ref name="rlw59"/>


In 1879, Cooper enrolled in the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]] in Philadelphia, studying art under famed controversial [[Realist visual arts|realist]] painter [[Thomas Eakins]]<ref name="js"/> for three years.<ref name="whg14"/> In 1886, he embarked on the first of his many travels to foreign lands, visiting the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], and [[Brittany]].<ref name="dbd"/> Afterwards, his art education resumed at the [[Académie Julian]] in [[Paris]] from 1886 to 1890,<ref name="cl74"/> with [[Henri Lucien Doucet]],<ref name="dbd"/> [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], and [[Jules Joseph Lefebvre]].<ref name="whg14"/> He also studied at [[Académie Delécluse]] and [[Académie Vitti]]. His work of this period consisted mostly of [[Landscape art|landscapes]] painted in a [[Barbizon school|Barbizon]] manner.<ref name="cl74"/> He traveled extensively throughout his life, [[Sketch (drawing)|sketching]] and painting scenes of [[Europe]], [[Asia]], and the [[United States]] in [[Watercolor painting|watercolors]] and [[Oil painting|oils]].<ref name="lbh"/>
In 1879, Cooper enrolled in the [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]] in Philadelphia, studying art under famed controversial [[Realist visual arts|realist]] painter [[Thomas Eakins]]<ref name="js"/> for three years.<ref name="whg14"/> In 1886, he embarked on the first of his many travels to foreign lands, visiting the [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], and [[Brittany]].<ref name="dbd"/> Afterwards, his art education resumed at the [[Académie Julian]] in [[Paris]] from 1886 to 1890,<ref name="cl74"/> with [[Henri Lucien Doucet]],<ref name="dbd"/> [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], and [[Jules Joseph Lefebvre]].<ref name="whg14"/> He also studied at [[Académie Delécluse]] and [[Académie Vitti]]. His work of this period consisted mostly of [[Landscape art|landscapes]] painted in a [[Barbizon school|Barbizon]] manner.<ref name="cl74"/> He traveled extensively throughout his life, [[Sketch (drawing)|sketching]] and painting scenes of [[Europe]], [[Asia]], and the [[United States]] in [[Watercolor painting|watercolors]] and [[Oil painting|oils]].<ref name="lbh"/>


==Life and work==
==Career==
⚫
===Philadelphia and New York City===

[[File:Portrait of Emma Lampert Cooper by Colin Campbell Cooper.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Portrait of Emma Lampert Cooper'' by Cooper, c. 1897]]
⚫
===Philadelphia and New York===
[[File:Portrait of Emma Lampert Cooper by Colin Campbell Cooper.jpg|thumb|200px|left|''Portrait of Emma Lampert Cooper'' by Colin Campbell Cooper, c. 1897]]
[[File:Colin Campbell Cooper, Rescue of the Survivors of the Titanic by the Carpathia.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Rescue of the Survivors of the Titanic by the Carpathia'', 1912]]
⚫
[[File:Colin Campbell Cooper - Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco'', c. 1915, now housed at the [[Crocker Art Museum]] in [[Sacramento, California]]]]

Back in Philadelphia, Cooper taught watercolor classes and architectural rendering<ref name="cl75"/> at the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now [[Drexel University]]) from 1895 to 1898.<ref name="emh"/> Many of Cooper's paintings were destroyed in an 1896 fire at Philadelphia's Hazeltine Galleries; as a result, relatively little of his early work exists today.<ref name="dbd"/>
Back in [[Philadelphia]], Cooper taught watercolor classes and architectural rendering<ref name="cl75"/> at Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now [[Drexel University]]) from 1895 to 1898.<ref name="emh"/> Many of Cooper's paintings were destroyed in an 1896 fire at Philadelphia's Hazeltine Galleries; as a result, relatively little of his early work exists today.<ref name="dbd"/>


While at Drexel, he spent his summers abroad, primarily in the Dutch artists colony of [[Laren, North Holland|Laren]] in [[North Holland]] and in [[Dordrecht]] in [[South Holland]].<ref name="whg17"/> Among the other artists in Dordrecht at this time was renowned painter [[Emma Lampert Cooper|Emma Lampert]] (1855–1920) from [[Rochester, New York]]. She and Cooper met, and were soon married, in Rochester on June 9, 1897.<ref name="whg18"/>
While at Drexel, he spent his summers abroad, primarily in the Dutch artists colony of [[Laren, North Holland|Laren]] in [[North Holland]] and in [[Dordrecht]] in [[South Holland]].<ref name="whg17"/> Among the other artists in Dordrecht at this time was renowned painter [[Emma Lampert Cooper|Emma Lampert]] (1855–1920) from [[Rochester, New York]]. She and Cooper met, and were soon married, in Rochester on June 9, 1897.<ref name="whg18"/>


In 1898, the Coopers returned to Europe for a few years. During this period, as Cooper painted architectural landmarks, he developed the [[Impressionism|Impressionist]] style which he used for the rest of his artistic career.<ref name="cl75"/>
In 1898, the Coopers returned to Europe for a few years. During this period, as Cooper painted architectural landmarks, he developed the [[Impressionism|Impressionist]] style which he used for the rest of his artistic career.<ref name="cl75"/>

[[File:Colin Campbell Cooper, Hudson River Waterfront, N.Y.C.jpg|thumb|200px|''Hudson River Waterfront, N. Y. C.'', 1913-21]]
Cooper and his wife exhibited together in several two-person shows, including a May 1902 exhibit at the [[Art Club of Philadelphia|Philadelphia Art Club]] and a 1915 show at the [[Memorial Art Gallery]] in Rochester.<ref name="whg62"/> They moved in 1904 to [[New York City]], where he would remain, other than his many travels, until 1921.<ref name="whg22"/> Here he continued work, which he had begun about two years earlier in Philadelphia, on his famous [[skyscraper]] paintings. Cooper said that he was "greatly interested in the skyscraper buildings in Broad Street. It was intensely interesting to watch the freakishness disappear from those queer towering structures in the glory of the right kind of light". He said that the painting which first brought him great success was 1902's ''Broad Street, New York''; in 1903, this painting was honored with the W. T. Evans Award<ref name="nyt1912a"/> of the [[New York Watercolor Club]].<ref name="rlw58"/> In another interview, he had stated that "one of the points that most strikes me about this view up Broad Street is the dramatic contrast between the old, low type of buildings ... and the great skyscrapers. My pictures are built on these contrasts."<ref name="nyt1911"/>
Cooper and his wife exhibited together in several two-person shows, including a May 1902 exhibit at the [[Art Club of Philadelphia|Philadelphia Art Club]] and a 1915 show at the [[Memorial Art Gallery]] in Rochester.<ref name="whg62"/> They moved in 1904 to [[New York City]], where he would remain, other than his many travels, until 1921.<ref name="whg22"/> Here he continued work, which he had begun about two years earlier in Philadelphia, on his famous [[skyscraper]] paintings. Cooper said that he was "greatly interested in the skyscraper buildings in Broad Street. It was intensely interesting to watch the freakishness disappear from those queer towering structures in the glory of the right kind of light". He said that the painting which first brought him great success was 1902's ''Broad Street, New York''; in 1903, this painting was honored with the W. T. Evans Award<ref name="nyt1912a"/> of the [[New York Watercolor Club]].<ref name="rlw58"/> In another interview, he had stated that "one of the points that most strikes me about this view up Broad Street is the dramatic contrast between the old, low type of buildings ... and the great skyscrapers. My pictures are built on these contrasts."<ref name="nyt1911"/>


In 1911, ''[[The New York Times]]'', citing Cooper as the artist who best captured modern, towering structures on canvas, declared him to be "the skyscraper artist par excellence of America".<ref name="nyt1911"/> In an article the following year, they stated that he was "one of the most interesting figures in American art", reiterating that "in his particular field he has no superior".<ref name="nyt1912a"/> In addition to New York City, his paintings often depict skyscrapers in Philadelphia and Chicago.<ref name="whg25"/>
In 1911, ''[[The New York Times]]'', citing Cooper as the artist who best captured modern, towering structures on canvas, declared him to be "the skyscraper artist par excellence of America".<ref name="nyt1911"/> In an article the following year, they stated that he was "one of the most interesting figures in American art", reiterating that "in his particular field he has no superior".<ref name="nyt1912a"/> In addition to New York City, his paintings often depict skyscrapers in Philadelphia and Chicago.<ref name="whg25"/>

[[File:Colin Campbell Cooper, Rescue of the Survivors of the Titanic by the Carpathia.jpg|thumb|250px|left|''Rescue of the Survivors of the Titanic by the Carpathia'', 1912]]
Cooper's painting ''Fifth Avenue, New York'' was purchased by the French government for the [[Musée du Luxembourg]]. Such an honor was quite rare for an American artist.<ref name="rlw61"/> Critics at the time, and up to the present, frequently compared the works of Cooper and [[Childe Hassam]]. They have often been credited as being the two most iconic artists whose paintings began a trend of celebrating the wonders of the modern city, especially New York City.<ref name="whg38"/> Cooper may have intentionally avoided certain subjects in order to differentiate himself from Hassam. Hassam, unlike Cooper, did not concentrate on the tall buildings in his [[cityscape]]s.<ref name="whg38"/>
Cooper's painting ''Fifth Avenue, New York'' was purchased by the French government for the [[Musée du Luxembourg]]. Such an honor was quite rare for an American artist.<ref name="rlw61"/> Critics at the time, and up to the present, frequently compared the works of Cooper and [[Childe Hassam]]. They have often been credited as being the two most iconic artists whose paintings began a trend of celebrating the wonders of the modern city, especially New York City.<ref name="whg38"/> Cooper may have intentionally avoided certain subjects in order to differentiate himself from Hassam. Hassam, unlike Cooper, did not concentrate on the tall buildings in his [[cityscape]]s.<ref name="whg38"/>


Cooper was as proficient painting in [[Watercolor painting|watercolors]] as he was in [[Oil painting|oil]]s. He would often create a small watercolor study before painting a larger work of the same subject in oils. But the smaller watercolors were not mere sketches for his own use; they were finished pieces which he exhibited, sometimes years earlier than the larger corresponding oil paintings that he would ultimately produce.<ref name="whg25"/> Cooper was elected to a prestigious membership in the [[National Academy of Design]] in 1912 (he had previously been elected an Associate, four years earlier).<ref name="dbd"/>
Cooper was as proficient painting in [[Watercolor painting|watercolors]] as he was in [[Oil painting|oil]]s. He would often create a small watercolor study before painting a larger work of the same subject in oils. But the smaller watercolors were not mere sketches for his own use; they were finished pieces which he exhibited, sometimes years earlier than the larger corresponding oil paintings that he would ultimately produce.<ref name="whg25"/> Cooper was elected to a prestigious membership in the [[National Academy of Design]] in 1912 (he had previously been elected an Associate, four years earlier).<ref name="dbd"/>

⚫
[[File:Colin Campbell Cooper - Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco.jpg|thumb|250px|''Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco'', c. 1915<!--, [[Crocker Art Museum]], Sacramento, California-->]]
He and his wife were aboard the [[RMS Carpathia|RMS ''Carpathia'']] during its rescue mission for the survivors from the sunken [[RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic'']] on April 15, 1912.<ref name="pw"/><ref name="wla"/><ref name="whg61"/> He assisted in the effort, and during the rescue operation, he created several paintings which document the events.<ref name="sg"/> The Coopers gave up their ship's cabin so some of the survivors would have berths to sleep in.<ref name="nyt1912b"/>
He and his wife were aboard the [[RMS Carpathia|RMS ''Carpathia'']] during its rescue mission for the survivors from the sunken [[RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic'']] on April 15, 1912.<ref name="pw"/><ref name="wla"/><ref name="whg61"/> He assisted in the effort, and during the rescue operation, he created several paintings which document the events.<ref name="sg"/> The Coopers gave up their ship's cabin so some of the survivors would have berths to sleep in.<ref name="nyt1912b"/>


Line 52: Line 52:


===Santa Barbara===
===Santa Barbara===
⚫
[[File:Terrace at Samarkand Hotel.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|''Terrace at Samarkand Hotel'', c. 1923]]
⚫
After his wife's death, Cooper moved to [[Santa Barbara, California]] in January 1921, where he resided for the rest of his life.<ref name="whg103"/> He spent two years in northern Europe and [[Tunisia]] and became [[dean (education)|Dean]] of Painting at the Santa Barbara Community School of Arts.<ref name="rlw61"/>


⚫
After his wife's death, Cooper moved to [[Santa Barbara, California]] in January 1921.<ref name="whg103"/> Santa Barbara would be his home base for the rest of his life, spending two years in northern Europe and Tunisia. He became [[dean (education)|Dean]] of Painting at the Santa Barbara Community School of Arts.<ref name="rlw61"/>
⚫
[[File:Terrace at Samarkand Hotel.jpg|thumb|250px|left|''Terrace at Samarkand Hotel'', c. 1923]]
Cooper said of his new environment: "I find Santa Barbara so conducive to the sort of things a painter most craves – climate, flowers, mountains, seascapes, etc. – with a community interest in all sorts of artistic matters that I am compensated, to a degree, for the isolation from that artistic universe of America."<ref name="rlw62"/> But he hadn't abandoned that "artistic universe of America", New York City, as he continued to maintain a studio there for ten years after his move to California.<ref name="whg103"/>
Cooper said of his new environment: "I find Santa Barbara so conducive to the sort of things a painter most craves – climate, flowers, mountains, seascapes, etc. – with a community interest in all sorts of artistic matters that I am compensated, to a degree, for the isolation from that artistic universe of America."<ref name="rlw62"/> But he hadn't abandoned that "artistic universe of America", New York City, as he continued to maintain a studio there for ten years after his move to California.<ref name="whg103"/>


Another aspect of his creativity became evident starting in the mid-1920s, as, perhaps influenced by his father's great love of literature,<ref name="hma"/> he began writing plays and books. His plays found their way in the 1920s and 1930 to theater companies in places such as [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], [[Redlands, California|Redlands]], and [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], and were also produced at a theater which he founded in Santa Barbara, called The Strollers. In addition to the plays, he also wrote novels, illustrated books, and an autobiography entitled ''In These Old Days''.<ref name="sfa"/>
Another aspect of his creativity became evident starting in the mid-1920s, as, perhaps influenced by his father's great love of literature,<ref name="hma"/> he began writing plays and books. His plays found their way in the 1920s and 1930 to theater companies in places such as [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], [[Redlands, California|Redlands]], and [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], and were also produced at a theater which he founded in Santa Barbara, called The Strollers. In addition to the plays, he also wrote novels, illustrated books, and an autobiography entitled ''In These Old Days''.<ref name="sfa"/>


In April 1927, he married his second wife, Marie Henriette Frehsee, in Arizona.<ref name="whg121"/> Cooper continued to enjoy traveling, and kept painting until prevented from doing so by failing eyesight in his last years.<ref name="hma"/> He died in Santa Barbara on November 6, 1937, at the age of 81.<ref name="emh"/> He is interred at [[West Laurel Hill Cemetery]] in [[Bala Cynwyd]], Pennsylvania. In 1938 Santa Barbara's Faulkner Memorial Art Gallery paid tribute to Cooper's legacy by presenting a memorial exhibition of his work.<ref name="hma"/>{{Clear}} Just several months before his death, however, Cooper initiated the effort to convert the abandoned post office building into an art museum in a letter to the editor of the ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' in July 1937. Just four years later that pipedream materialized into the [[Santa Barbara Museum of Art]].
In April 1927, he married his second wife, Marie Henriette Frehsee, in [[Arizona]].<ref name="whg121"/> Cooper continued to enjoy traveling, and kept painting until prevented from doing so by failing eyesight in his last years.<ref name="hma"/> He died in Santa Barbara on November 6, 1937, at the age of 81.<ref name="emh"/> He is interred at [[West Laurel Hill Cemetery]] in [[Bala Cynwyd]], Pennsylvania. In 1938 Santa Barbara's Faulkner Memorial Art Gallery paid tribute to Cooper's legacy by presenting a memorial exhibition of his work.<ref name="hma"/>{{Clear}} Several months before his death, however, Cooper initiated the effort to convert the abandoned post office building into an art museum in a letter to the editor of the ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' in July 1937. Four years later that pipedream materialized into the [[Santa Barbara Museum of Art]].


==Exhibitions==
==Exhibitions==
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Cooper's work is in many prominent collections, including:
Cooper's work is in many prominent collections, including:
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Allentown Art Museum]] (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
* [[Allentown Art Museum]] ([[Allentown, Pennsylvania]])
* Berman Museum of Art, [[Ursinus College]] (Collegeville, Pennsylvania)
* Berman Museum of Art, [[Ursinus College]] ([[Collegeville, Pennsylvania]])
* [[Brooklyn Museum of Art]]
* [[Brooklyn Museum of Art]]
* [[Cincinnati Museum of Art]]
* [[Cincinnati Museum of Art]]
* [[Crocker Art Museum]] (Sacramento, California)
* [[Crocker Art Museum]] ([[Sacramento, California]])
* [[Dallas Museum of Art]]
* [[Dallas Museum of Art]]
* Fleischer Museum (Scottsdale, Arizona)
* Fleischer Museum ([[Scottsdale, Arizona]])
* Irvine Museum (Irvine, California)
* Irvine Museum ([[Irvine, California]])
* [[Jersey City Museum]] (Jersey City, New Jersey)
* [[Jersey City Museum]] ([[Jersey City, New Jersey]])
* [[Lowe Art Museum]], (Coral Gables, Florida)
* [[Lowe Art Museum]], ([[Coral Gables, Florida]])
* [[Memorial Art Gallery]] (Rochester, New York)
* [[Memorial Art Gallery]] ([[Rochester, New York]])
* [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (New York City)
* [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] ([[New York City]])
* [[Montclair Art Museum]] (Montclair, New Jersey)
* [[Montclair Art Museum]] ([[Montclair, New Jersey]])
* [[Musée du Luxembourg]] (Paris, France)
* [[Musée du Luxembourg]] ([[Paris]], France)
* Musée National de la Cooperation Franco-Americaine (Blerancourt, France)
* Musée National de la Cooperation Franco-Americaine ([[Blerancourt]], France)
* Museum of the [[National Academy of Design]] (New York City)
* Museum of the [[National Academy of Design]] (New York City)
* [[National Arts Club]] (New York, NY)
* [[National Arts Club]] (New York City)
* [[National Museum of American History]], [[Smithsonian Institution]] (Washington, DC)
* [[National Museum of American History]], [[Smithsonian Institution]] ([[Washington, D.C.]])
* [[National Museum of Wildlife Art]] (Jackson Hole, Wyoming)
* [[National Museum of Wildlife Art]] ([[Jackson Hole, Wyoming]])
* [[New Britain Museum of American Art]] (New Britain, Connecticut)
* [[New Britain Museum of American Art]] ([[New Britain, Connecticut]])
* [[New York Historical Society]]
* [[New York Historical Society]]
* [[Norton Museum of Art]] (West Palm Beach, Florida)
* [[Norton Museum of Art]] ([[West Palm Beach, Florida]])
* [[Oakland Museum of California]] (Oakland, CA)
* [[Oakland Museum of California]] ([[Oakland, California]])
* [[Palais de Tokyo]] (Ancien National D'art Moderne) (Paris, France)
* [[Palais de Tokyo]] (Ancien National D'art Moderne) (Paris, France)
* Payne Gallery, [[Moravian College]] (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)
* Payne Gallery, [[Moravian College]] ([[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]])
* [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]]
* [[Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts]]
* [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]
* [[Philadelphia Museum of Art]]
* [[Reading Public Museum]] (Reading, Pennsylvania)
* [[Reading Public Museum]] ([[Reading, Pennsylvania]])
* [[Saint Louis Museum of Fine Arts]]
* [[Saint Louis Museum of Fine Arts]]
* San Antonio Art League Museum
* San Antonio Art League Museum
* [[San Diego Museum of Art]]
* [[San Diego Museum of Art]]
* [[Santa Barbara Museum of Art]]
* [[Santa Barbara Museum of Art]]
* Sewell C. Biggs Museum of American Art (Dover, Delaware)
* Sewell C. Biggs Museum of American Art ([[Dover, Delaware]])
* [[University of Michigan Museum of Art]] (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
* [[University of Michigan Museum of Art]] ([[Ann Arbor, Michigan]])
* [[Westmoreland Museum of American Art]] (Greensburg, Pennsylvania)
* [[Westmoreland Museum of American Art]] ([[Greensburg, Pennsylvania]])
* [[The White House]] (Washington, D.C.)
* [[The White House]] (Washington, D.C.)
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}
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==External links==
==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Commons category}}
*[http://collections.si.edu/search/results.jsp?q=Colin+Campbell+Cooper Collections Search Center: Colin Campbell Cooper], [[Smithsonian Institution]]
*[http://collections.si.edu/search/results.jsp?q=Colin+Campbell+Cooper Collections Search Center: Colin Campbell Cooper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807144315/http://collections.si.edu/search/results.jsp?q=Colin+Campbell+Cooper |date=2011-08-07 }}, [[Smithsonian Institution]]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:19th-century American painters]]
[[Category:19th-century American painters]]
[[Category:20th-century American painters]]
[[Category:20th-century American painters]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Académie Julian]]
[[Category:Académie Julian alumni]]
[[Category:American male painters]]
[[Category:American male painters]]
[[Category:American Impressionist painters]]
[[Category:American Impressionist painters]]
[[Category:Artists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Artists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Artists from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Painters from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:Burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery]]
[[Category:Burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery]]
[[Category:Drexel University faculty]]
[[Category:Drexel University faculty]]
[[Category:Orientalist painters]]
[[Category:American Orientalist painters]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Students of Thomas Eakins]]
[[Category:Students of Thomas Eakins]]
[[Category:Painters from California]]
[[Category:Painters from California]]
[[Category:19th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:Painters from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Académie Delécluse alumni]]
[[Category:Académie Delécluse alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male artists]]

Latest revision as of 08:52, 8 April 2024

Colin Campbell Cooper
Colin Campbell Cooper, c. 1905
Born(1856-03-08)March 8, 1856
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedNovember 6, 1937(1937-11-06) (aged 81)
Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationPennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Thomas Eakins),
Académie Julian
Known forPainting (oil, watercolor)
MovementAmerican Impressionism

Colin Campbell Cooper, Jr. (March 8, 1856 – November 6, 1937) was an American impressionist painter of architectural paintings, especially of skyscrapers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. An avid traveler, he was also known for his paintings of European and Asian landmarks, as well as natural landscapes, portraits, florals, and interiors. In addition to being a painter, he was also a teacher and writer. His first wife, Emma Lampert Cooper, was also a highly regarded painter.

Early life and education

[edit]

Cooper was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 8, 1856, into a well-to-do family of English-Irish heritage.[1] He had four older and four younger siblings. His mother, Emily Williams Cooper, whose ancestor emigrated to the U.S. from Weymouth, England,[2] was an amateur painter in watercolors.[3] His father, Dr. Colin Campbell Cooper, whose grandfather came from Derry, Ireland,[2] was a surgeon[4] and a lawyer with a great appreciation for the arts. Young Colin had been inspired by the art which he discovered when he attended the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. Both of his parents were highly supportive of his ambitions, encouraging him to become an artist.[1]

In 1879, Cooper enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, studying art under famed controversial realist painter Thomas Eakins[5] for three years.[6] In 1886, he embarked on the first of his many travels to foreign lands, visiting the Netherlands, Belgium, and Brittany.[4] Afterwards, his art education resumed at the Académie Julian in Paris from 1886 to 1890,[7] with Henri Lucien Doucet,[4] William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and Jules Joseph Lefebvre.[6] He also studied at Académie Delécluse and Académie Vitti. His work of this period consisted mostly of landscapes painted in a Barbizon manner.[7] He traveled extensively throughout his life, sketching and painting scenes of Europe, Asia, and the United States in watercolors and oils.[8]

Career

[edit]

Philadelphia and New York City

[edit]
Portrait of Emma Lampert Cooper by Cooper, c. 1897
Rescue of the Survivors of the Titanic by the Carpathia, 1912
Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, c. 1915, now housed at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California

Back in Philadelphia, Cooper taught watercolor classes and architectural rendering[9] at Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University) from 1895 to 1898.[10] Many of Cooper's paintings were destroyed in an 1896 fire at Philadelphia's Hazeltine Galleries; as a result, relatively little of his early work exists today.[4]

While at Drexel, he spent his summers abroad, primarily in the Dutch artists colony of Laren in North Holland and in Dordrecht in South Holland.[11] Among the other artists in Dordrecht at this time was renowned painter Emma Lampert (1855–1920) from Rochester, New York. She and Cooper met, and were soon married, in Rochester on June 9, 1897.[12]

In 1898, the Coopers returned to Europe for a few years. During this period, as Cooper painted architectural landmarks, he developed the Impressionist style which he used for the rest of his artistic career.[9]

Cooper and his wife exhibited together in several two-person shows, including a May 1902 exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Club and a 1915 show at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester.[13] They moved in 1904 to New York City, where he would remain, other than his many travels, until 1921.[14] Here he continued work, which he had begun about two years earlier in Philadelphia, on his famous skyscraper paintings. Cooper said that he was "greatly interested in the skyscraper buildings in Broad Street. It was intensely interesting to watch the freakishness disappear from those queer towering structures in the glory of the right kind of light". He said that the painting which first brought him great success was 1902's Broad Street, New York; in 1903, this painting was honored with the W. T. Evans Award[15] of the New York Watercolor Club.[16] In another interview, he had stated that "one of the points that most strikes me about this view up Broad Street is the dramatic contrast between the old, low type of buildings ... and the great skyscrapers. My pictures are built on these contrasts."[17]

In 1911, The New York Times, citing Cooper as the artist who best captured modern, towering structures on canvas, declared him to be "the skyscraper artist par excellence of America".[17] In an article the following year, they stated that he was "one of the most interesting figures in American art", reiterating that "in his particular field he has no superior".[15] In addition to New York City, his paintings often depict skyscrapers in Philadelphia and Chicago.[18]

Cooper's painting Fifth Avenue, New York was purchased by the French government for the Musée du Luxembourg. Such an honor was quite rare for an American artist.[19] Critics at the time, and up to the present, frequently compared the works of Cooper and Childe Hassam. They have often been credited as being the two most iconic artists whose paintings began a trend of celebrating the wonders of the modern city, especially New York City.[20] Cooper may have intentionally avoided certain subjects in order to differentiate himself from Hassam. Hassam, unlike Cooper, did not concentrate on the tall buildings in his cityscapes.[20]

Cooper was as proficient painting in watercolors as he was in oils. He would often create a small watercolor study before painting a larger work of the same subject in oils. But the smaller watercolors were not mere sketches for his own use; they were finished pieces which he exhibited, sometimes years earlier than the larger corresponding oil paintings that he would ultimately produce.[18] Cooper was elected to a prestigious membership in the National Academy of Design in 1912 (he had previously been elected an Associate, four years earlier).[4]

He and his wife were aboard the RMS Carpathia during its rescue mission for the survivors from the sunken RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912.[21][22][23] He assisted in the effort, and during the rescue operation, he created several paintings which document the events.[24] The Coopers gave up their ship's cabin so some of the survivors would have berths to sleep in.[25]

Cooper exhibited in San Francisco's Panama–Pacific International Exposition of 1915, winning the gold medal for oil and the silver medal for watercolor.[16] While there, he created a series of paintings depicting the exposition's buildings, including the Palace of Fine Arts.[8] He also participated in the Panama–California Exposition in San Diego in 1916. The Coopers spent the winter of 1915–16 in Los Angeles.[4] This time in southern California was undoubtedly a key factor in Cooper's later decision to move there permanently.[8] His wife Emma died of tuberculosis on July 30, 1920.[26][27]

Santa Barbara

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Terrace at Samarkand Hotel, c. 1923

After his wife's death, Cooper moved to Santa Barbara, California in January 1921, where he resided for the rest of his life.[27] He spent two years in northern Europe and Tunisia and became Dean of Painting at the Santa Barbara Community School of Arts.[19]

Cooper said of his new environment: "I find Santa Barbara so conducive to the sort of things a painter most craves – climate, flowers, mountains, seascapes, etc. – with a community interest in all sorts of artistic matters that I am compensated, to a degree, for the isolation from that artistic universe of America."[28] But he hadn't abandoned that "artistic universe of America", New York City, as he continued to maintain a studio there for ten years after his move to California.[27]

Another aspect of his creativity became evident starting in the mid-1920s, as, perhaps influenced by his father's great love of literature,[3] he began writing plays and books. His plays found their way in the 1920s and 1930 to theater companies in places such as Pasadena, Redlands, and Santa Fe, and were also produced at a theater which he founded in Santa Barbara, called The Strollers. In addition to the plays, he also wrote novels, illustrated books, and an autobiography entitled In These Old Days.[29]

In April 1927, he married his second wife, Marie Henriette Frehsee, in Arizona.[30] Cooper continued to enjoy traveling, and kept painting until prevented from doing so by failing eyesight in his last years.[3] He died in Santa Barbara on November 6, 1937, at the age of 81.[10] He is interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. In 1938 Santa Barbara's Faulkner Memorial Art Gallery paid tribute to Cooper's legacy by presenting a memorial exhibition of his work.[3]

Several months before his death, however, Cooper initiated the effort to convert the abandoned post office building into an art museum in a letter to the editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press in July 1937. Four years later that pipedream materialized into the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

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Summer, 1918
Nocturnal Town Square a.k.a. European Plaza.[31] Oil on board. James Hansen Santa Barbara, California exhibition, 1981. Private collection, USA.
Amsterdam, 1892
New York from Brooklyn, c. 1910
Columbus Circle, 1909
Pergola at Samarkand, c. 1921

Selected solo exhibitions

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Selected group exhibitions

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  • 1895, 1897, 1899, 1901–16, 1919, 1920 Art Institute of Chicago
  • 1901–03, 1907, 1908, 1912 Carnegie Institute Museum of Art (Pittsburgh)
  • 1902 Galleries of the ART Club (New York)
  • 1903 Klackner Galleries (New York)
  • 1907, 1909, 1911, 1913, 1915, 1917, 1920 Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)
  • 1907–10, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1919, 1922 City Art Museum of St. Louis
  • 1912 The Macdowell Club of New York
  • 1915 Arlington Art Galleries (New York)
  • 1915 Macbeth Gallery (New York)
  • 1916 O'Brien Gallery (Chicago)
  • 1916 Cleveland Museum of Art
  • 1924 Casa de la Guerra (Santa Barbara)
  • 1927 Biltmore Galleries (Santa Barbara)
  • 1929 Jules Kievits Fine Art (Pasadena)
  • 1930 Art Club of Philadelphia
  • 1930, 1931 New York Society of Painters
  • 1930, 1931, 1941 County National Bank and Trust (Santa Barbara)
  • 1932 National Arts Club (New York)
  • 1933 Ebell Salon of Art (Los Angeles)
  • 1939, 1941, 1944, 1951 Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Source for exhibition information, except where otherwise noted:[24]

Collections

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Cooper's work is in many prominent collections, including:

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  • Spanish Garden, c. 1890s–1910s
    Spanish Garden, c. 1890s–1910s
  • Stairway of Francis I at Blois, 1900
    Stairway of Francis I at Blois, 1900
  • Adam and Eve Inn, Lincoln, England, 1902
    Adam and Eve Inn, Lincoln, England, 1902
  • Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1906
    Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1906
  • Main Street Bridge, Rochester, 1908
    Main Street Bridge, Rochester, 1908
  • Broadway from the Post Office (Wall Street), c. 1909
    Broadway from the Post Office (Wall Street), c. 1909
  • Metropolitan Life Tower, 1910
    Metropolitan Life Tower, 1910
  • Polar Bear, 1912
    Polar Bear, 1912
  • Rooftops at Sunset, 1912
    Rooftops at Sunset, 1912
  • St. Philips Church, Charleston, c. 1913
    St. Philips Church, Charleston, c. 1913
  • Taj Mahal, Afternoon, 1913
    Taj Mahal, Afternoon, 1913
  • At Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, 1915
    At Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, 1915
  • Hunter College, New York City, c. 1915
    Hunter College, New York City, c. 1915
  • Fortune Teller, 1921
    Fortune Teller, 1921
  • Chambers Street and the Municipal Building, N.Y.C., 1922
    Chambers Street and the Municipal Building, N.Y.C., 1922
  • Self-Portrait, c. 1922
    Self-Portrait, c. 1922

References

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  1. ^ a b Westphal, p. 59.
  2. ^ a b Gerdts, p. 13.
  3. ^ a b c d "Exhibition & Museum Resources Guide – East Coast/West Coast and Beyond: Colin Campbell Cooper, American Impressionist" (PDF). Heckscher Museum of Art. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-20. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Dearinger, p. 114.
  5. ^ Stern, p. 30.
  6. ^ a b Gerdts, p. 14.
  7. ^ a b Lowrey, p. 74.
  8. ^ a b c Hankin, Lisa Bush (Spring 2007). "Colin Campbell Cooper (1856–1937)" (PDF). Art and Antiques. pp. 161–163. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  9. ^ a b Lowrey, p. 75.
  10. ^ a b Hughes, p. 115.
  11. ^ Gerdts, p. 17.
  12. ^ Gerdts, p. 18.
  13. ^ Gerdts, p. 62.
  14. ^ Gerdts, p. 22.
  15. ^ a b "Well-Known Artists Tell of the Paintings That Did Most to Win Fame for Them and How They Came to Take Up Art" (PDF). The New York Times. January 28, 1912. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  16. ^ a b Westphal, p. 58.
  17. ^ a b "What is the Most Beautiful Spot in New York?" (PDF). The New York Times. June 18, 1911. p. 4. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  18. ^ a b Gerdts, p. 25.
  19. ^ a b Westphal, p. 61.
  20. ^ a b Gerdts, p. 38.
  21. ^ Wall, Pamela; Arnold, Sara. "Outside Perspectives: Visiting Artists in Charleston" (PDF). Antiques & Fine Art (11th Anniversary, 2011): 305. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  22. ^ "Colin Cambell [sic] Cooper Biography". National Museum of Wildlife Art. Archived from the original on December 22, 2010. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  23. ^ Gerdts, p. 61.
  24. ^ a b Fischer, Courtney; Goss, Frank. "Colin Campbell Cooper: California & New York Impressionist; Noted Orientalist". Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  25. ^ "Rome Aids Titanic Fund" (PDF). The New York Times. May 12, 1912. p. C4. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  26. ^ "Cooper, Emma Lampert". University of Rochester. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  27. ^ a b c Gerdts, p. 103.
  28. ^ Westphal, p. 62.
  29. ^ "Colin Campbell Cooper (1856-1937)". Stern Fine Arts. Retrieved April 2, 2011.
  30. ^ Gerdts, p. 121.
  31. ^ An Exhibition of Paintings by Colin Campbell Cooper, James M. Hansen, Santa Barbara, California, May 3–16, 1981. Painting number 135 in the catalogue.
  32. ^ "Laguna Art Museum – Past Exhibitions". Archived from the original on January 11, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2010.
  33. ^ "Lasting Impressions: Colin Campbell Cooper". Santa Barbara Historical Museum. Retrieved June 24, 2010.

Sources

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Colin Campbell Cooper.
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