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 Irma Howard Cook  (1899 - 1984)

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Lived/Active: South Carolina      Known for: painting-portrait, still life, interiors and houses
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
Irma Howard Cook, wife of artist August Charles Cook, was the only child of Dr. Lawrence and Edith Reid Howard of Balston Spa, New York.  Born in 1899, she experienced a childhood illness, which resulted in a degenerative hearing loss relatively early in her life.   Her parents encouraged her to learn to become a seamstress in the event that she one day might need to support herself.  A gay and extroverted soul, she nevertheless convinced her parents to allow her to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, where she proceeded to win three of the school's most coveted awards, twice winning the Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship, followed by the Toppan Prize, available only to Cresson winners.
 
Today, an annual drawing award of The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts honors both the Cooks and their revered instructor, Daniel Garber.
 
As talented as she was -- August referred to her as the finest artist he knew -- her interest in being a mother (Irma Sue Cook Haynes; Peter August Cook; Howard Cook) took precedence in her life.  However, she did teach privately in the basement studio of the Cooks' Spartanburg home on Fairview Avenue Extension.

Portraiture and still lifes in oils and watercolor still lifes and landscapes were her strength. Because her life was much more private than her husband's, less is known about her life and work and the whereabouts of her existing art, although a significant number of her pieces remain in the possession of family members.

Irma was a founding member of The Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg, created in 1957 by 16 local artists to support one another in their artistic endeavors.  She is listed in Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975 (1999, Peter Hastings Falk, Editor); Annual Exhibition Record, 1914-68, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1989, Peter Hastings Falk, Editor) and The Artists Bluebook (Lonnie Pierson Dunbier, Editor).

Works of both the Cooks are included in the collections of The Morris Museum, Augusta, Ga., and The Palmetto Bank Endowed Permanent Collection of The Spartanburg Museum of Art.
 
Several of the Cooks' students still live in the Spartanburg area, and include Katie Hodge, whose "Painting with Wool" exhibit was featured in 2003 in The Spartanburg Museum of Art.
 
Frank Coleman (1921-1994), along with Irma, was a founder of both the Artists' Guild of Spartanburg and the Spartanburg Historical Association. His use of color was extolled by his former teacher and mentor, Irma Cook. He was also a student of archeology, architecture, photography.


Submitted February 2007 by Sally Cook Parsons, granddaughter of the artist
 

Biography from Spartanburg County Museum of Art:
Irma Howard Cook: 1899 - 1984, was born in Ballston Spa, NY, and graduated from The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  She married August Cook in 1924 and taught private lessons from her basement studio until her death.  She is best known for her oil portraits, watercolors of homes, interiors and for her teaching.

She received numerous awards during her time at The Academy.

The Spartanburg County Museum of Art produced a catalog August & Irma Cook: A Legacy of Art to accompany an exhibit of their works 8/28-10/8/2000.

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