Biografie von Astley David COOPER (1856-1924)

Birth place: St. Louis, MO

Death place: San Jose, CA

Addresses: San Jose, CA (1883-on)

Profession: Painter, illustrator

Studied: Wash. Univ.

Member: SC of St. Louis; San Francisco AA

Work: Western Art Mus., Tulsa, OK; San Jose Historical Museum; Buffalo Bill Historical Center; Stanford Museum; Oakland Museum; Gilcrease Inst.; Smithonian Inst.; Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Cody, WY; Veterans Memorial Bldg., Oakland; Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas

Comments: Cooper gained his first wide recognition for a series of Indian portraits painted in 1877, while an illustrator for Leslie's. In 1883, he moved to San Jose where he became recognized as an authority on the Old West and a chronicler of the vanishing Indian way of life. Despite his great success, he was an alcoholic ó and painted some large nudes that he traded to saloons in order to pay off his drinking debts.

Sources: according to Hughes, Artists of California, 115; P&H Samuels erroneously report Cooper's middle name as Montague.

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