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Birth
1856 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Death
1937 (Santa Barbara, California)
Lived/Active
California
Self portrait - Colin Campbell Cooper - Self Portrait
Often Known For
landscape-buildings, floral, portrait
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Categories of Interest
The California Art Club
Impressionists Pre 1940
San Francisco Panama-Pacific Exhibition 1915
Taos Pre 1940
California Painters
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  A resident and distinguished impressionist painter of both the East and
West Coasts, Colin Campbell Cooper earned an international reputation
with his depictions of landscapes, florals, portraits, gardens,
interiors and figures. He was especially noted for street scenes and
skyscrapers of New York and Philadelphia, and his impressionist palette
was inspired by Childe Hassam, whom he met in New York beginning in the
1890s.
In the later part of his life, he focused on West Coast
subject matter and espoused "The California Style" of watercolor
painting, a bold, aggressive new oil-painting look to a medium that had
traditionally been used more modestly.
He was born in
Philadelphia to an upper class family where the father was a surgeon,
and he, the son, was encouraged by his educated family to pursue art.
He was also inspired by the art he saw at the 1876 Philadelphia
Exposition. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
with Thomas Eakins and in Paris at the Academies Julian, Vitti, and
Delecluse. During that time, he traveled throughout Europe and painted
picturesque architectural scenes, which gained him widespread
recognition. Sadly many of these paintings were lost in a fire of 1896.
From
1895 to 1898, he was instructor of watercolor at the Drexel Institute
in Philadelphia and then moved to New York City from where he and his
artist wife, Emma Lampert, traveled throughout the world in search of
subject matter.
They first went to California in 1915,
spending the winter in Los Angeles and in 1921, settled in Santa
Barbara, where he served as Dean of Painting at the Santa Barbara
Community School of Arts.
He was a member of numerous
associations including the California Art Club, Salmagundi Club, and
the National Academy of Design. His work is in many museums including
the Cincinnati Art Museum, the St. Louis Museum, and the Oakland
Museum.
Cooper died in Santa Barbara.
Sources:
Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940
Gordon McClelland and Jay Last, California Watercolors
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Biography from Blake Benton Fine Art, Artists C - F:
| Colin
Campbell Cooper, painter, teacher, writer, lecturer, watercolorist and
impressionist was born in Philadelphia, P.A. in 1856. His father, a
wealthy surgeon, encouraged his son to pursue his talent in art. He was
also inspired by the art he saw at the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition. He
studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas
Eakins, the Academies Julian in Paris with Vitti, and Delecluse and
additionally at other art schools in Paris. He spent much time in
Europe painting figure and architectural subjects, many of these
paintings were lost in a fire of 1896. Architecture and street scenes
became his specialty.
Mr. Cooper's notable achievement was his
long series of canvases depicting the picturesque charm of the modern
sky-scraper, particularly those of New York and Philadelphia; he began
this work in 1902. It was said of these works, "He saw beauty,
sublimity and grandeur in the structures that his average contemporary
was wont to call monstrosities." He was also known for painting genre,
portraits, Italy, Spain, interiors, harbors, churches, still lifes and
flowers.
Colin Cooper was also known for the unique way that
he handled watercolor on canvas, he did this "so cleverly that his
water-colors can scarcely be distinguished from oils." This style of
painting was later called "The California Style" of watercolor
painting. Very few, if any, artists at the time were employing this
technique in the manner that Cooper was. Speaking of the success that
Cooper had in rendering his city scenes, a writer for the Brush and
Palette (1872) magazine wrote "that Cooper has the natural gift of
seeing the beauty of what to most people are prosaic structures, and
the patience and persistence to perfect his delineation of street and
building, is the secret of his success as an architectural painter."
The
success that Cooper had in rendering these scenes was also due in part
to the influence that the impressionist painter Frederick Childe Hassam
had on him. He met Hassam in New York in the beginning of the 1890s and
was influenced by the delicate handling and atmospheric qualities
conveyed by Hassam's canvases.
From 1895 to 1898, Cooper was
instructor of watercolor at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia, and
then moved to New York City from where he and his artist wife Emma
Lampert traveled throughout the world in search of subject matter. One
art critic stated: "Mr. Cooper recently returned from the Far East and
has exhibited Indian paintings in New York. Among his architectural
works which are said to possess such charm as to make them dreams of
beauty are: Taj Mahal, Agra, White Mosque, Bombey, and Maharajah's
Palace, Udaipor (Venice of India).
The Coopers first went to
California in 1915, spending the winter in Los Angeles, and in 1921,
settled in Santa Barbara, where he served as Dean of Painting at the
Santa Barbara Community School of Arts. He also painted in Taos, New
Mexico, and in Arizona including the Superstition Mountains east of
Phoenix.
Cooper was a member of many leading art clubs in this
country. He was elected an associate member of the National Academy of
Design in 1908, and elected to full status as an Academician to the
National Academy of Design in 1912. Additionally he was a member of the
New York Watercolor Club; Art Club of Philadelphia; Philadelphia
Watercolor Society; American Watercolor Society; Fellowship
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art; Lotus Club; National Arts Club and
American Federation of Arts and others.
He won numerous awards
including: Wm. T. Evans prize, American Watercolor Society, 1903, 1910; gold medal for oil and
silver medal for watercolor, Pan Am Pacific Expo., San Francisco, 1915;
Hudnut prize, New York Watercolor Club, 1918, and others.
His work can be found in many
important museum collections throughout the world.
Colin Campbell Cooper passed away in
Santa Barbara, California on November 6, 1937.
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