Thomas Joshua Cooper (born December 19, 1946) is an American photographer. He is considered among the premier contemporary landscape photographers.Everett, Deborah (2008) "Thomas Joshua Cooper (b. 1946), Cherokee Photographer" pp. 27-29 ''In'' Everett, Deborah and Zorn, Elayne (2008) ''Encyclopedia of Native American Artists'' Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, page 27,

Early life and education

Cooper studied art, philosophy and literature and received his

bachelor’s degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six y ...

from

Humboldt State University California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt also known as Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California or California State Polytechnic Universi ...

Arcata, California Arcata (; Wiyot language, Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok language, Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay (United States), Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County, Californ ...

in 1969. In 1972, he received his

master’s A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

of art in photography with honors from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

."Thomas Joshua Cooper"
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation biography

Inspiration

Cooper was inspired by the works of the photographers of the f/64 group of the 1930s and 1940s, such as

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...

. Cooper stated, "I'll live and die by the late works of

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...

Alfred Stieglitz Alfred Stieglitz (January 1, 1864 – July 13, 1946) was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his 50-year career in making photography an accepted art form. In addition to his photography, Stieglitz was kno ...

and

Paul Strand Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. ...

, and I think

Robert Frank Robert Frank (November 9, 1924 – September 9, 2019) was a Swiss photographer and documentary filmmaker, who became an American binational. His most notable work, the 1958 book titled ''The Americans'', earned Frank comparisons to a modern-da ...

is the most extraordinary living photographic picture-maker."Benedictus, Leo (28 August 2008
"Thomas Joshua Cooper's best shot"
''The Guardian'', an interview in the "My Best Shot" series

Career

Cooper's first solo show took place in 1971. He has had more than 95 solo exhibitions since then. After teaching art and photography in a number of schools in California, Cooper moved to England. In 1982 he launched the Fine Art Photography programme at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

. He is now retired. Cooper loves being a photographer, but is frustrated by some of the vocabulary that is used in the field. He indicates, "I hate the words "snap", "shoot" and "take" when it comes to making photographs. Everything I do is very seriously built up. They are 'made' pictures." Not only a photographer, Cooper is a poet and has written haiku books. Most of them are inspired by nature and reflect his photography. In 2009 Cooper achieved a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in Photography. Cooper has lived in Scotland since the 1980s and he is represented by Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland. At the end of September, 2019, on the 500th anniversary of the beginning of

Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the Magellan expeditio ...

circumnavigation Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth. The first recorded circ ...

of the world, Cooper opened for the first time “The Atlas of Emptiness and Extremity,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: In an exhibition called The World's Edge''' comprising 65 large-scale and 75 8 x 10 black-and-white photographs, showcases Cooper’s ''The Atlas of Emptiness and Extremity'', ''The World’s Edge'', and ''The Atlantic Basin Project'', which he first embarked upon in 1987, to chart the Atlantic Basin from the extreme points of each north, south, east, and west coordinates. Open from 21 September until 2 February 2020 in the Resnick Pavilion.

Awards and honours

* 1970, John D. Phelen Award in Art and Literature . * 1994, Major Artists Award, Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, Scotland * 1999, Major Artist’s Award, Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico * 2014, Elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

Museums

Cooper’s works are held by over fifty museums and public collections, among them: *

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, Chicago, Illinois *

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between t ...

, Denver Colorado *

The J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

, Los Angeles, California * Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston, Texas * Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California * Carré d'Art (Nîmes Museum of Contemporary Art), Nîmes, France *

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

, Princeton, New Jersey * The Tate Gallery, London, England *

The Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London, England

Notes

External links

Ingleby GalleryThe Pace GalleryGalerie Thomas Schulte
* https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/07/a-photographer-at-the-ends-of-the-earth * https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/26106-thomas-joshua-cooper {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Thomas Joshua 1946 births Living people Photographers from San Francisco American people of Cherokee descent Landscape photographers 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt alumni