Sometimes described as a magic realist, Eileen Cooper brings an unapologetically female perspective to her subject-matter, which encompasses sexuality, motherhood, life and death. Her richly diverse images, simultaneously bold and tender, reveal a range of feeling that is both deeply engrossing and readily accessible, yet still very much part of contemporary art practice. Throughout her career Cooper’s work has contained a strong autobiographical element. However, her vision is always more allegorical than anecdotal, her concerns and experiences as relevant and timeless as those of the human spirit itself.
COURTESY OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON
‘Stories are never far away. Mythology, fairytales, bible stories, comics and early special effects movies …..They are all inspirations......
From my roots in objective drawing to the large scale imaginative works, the female figure and female identity has always been central to my practice.'
EILEEN COOPER 2021
EILEEN COOPER OBE RA
CV
2016 OBE for services to Art and Art Education
Honorary Fellow, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
2014 Hon Doc of Art Southampton Solent University
2011 Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Art
2011- 2017 Elected Keeper of the Royal Academy
2006 Fellow of the Royal College of Art
2005-10 Head of Printmaking, Royal Academy Schools
2002 Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers
2001 Elected Royal Academician
1994 - 2006 Part time Lecturer in Printmaking at Royal College of Art
1977-2000 Visiting lecturer at Art Schools throughout the UK:
•Falmouth School Of Art
•Leicester Polytechnic
•St. Martin's School of Art
•Camberwell School of Art
•City and Guilds, London
1974-77 Royal College Of Art, London
1971-74 Goldsmiths College, London
1970-71 Ashton-under-Lyne College of Further Education
AWARDS AND COMMISSIONS
2017 Co-ordinator - Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2010 & 13 Artist in residence, Alayrac, France
2009 Royal Academy Summer Show Curator/Co-ordinator
Selector Originals, Mall Galleries, London
2008-09 Artist in residence, Lewisham College
1999 Arts & Humanities Research Board, Award for Ceramic work Ceramics from a Fine Artist
1999 Cover & illus. for Carol Ann Duffy's Meeting Midnight Pub. Faber & Faber
1998-99 Artist in residence, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
1986 Frontispiece: Carol Ann Duffy's Thrown Voices, pub. Bernard Stone
1982 Staircase Project, ICA, London
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Nights at the Circus, Sims Read Gallery, London
2019 Personal Space: New Paintings, Huxley Parlour, London London•Forrest, Rabley Gallery, Marlborough, Wiltshire
•Short Stories, Sims Reed, London
2018 Under the Same Moon, Letitia Gallery Beirut, Lebanon
2018 Night Music ( or Labour of Love) The Corn Hall, Diss, Sussex2017 Till the Morning Comes, The Fine Art Society, London
•Eileen Cooper: A Woman's Skin, curated by Dr Meredith Hale, Wolfson College, Cambridge
2016-17 Hide and Seek, Drawing 1977-2014, touring to Swindon Museum and Art Gallery & The Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate
2016 Love-in -Idleness, Rook and Raven Gallery, London
•Between the Lines, Galerie MIRO, Prague, Czech Republic
2015 Hide and Seek, Drawing 1977-2014 Royal Academy of Arts, Tennant Gallery and Fine Rooms
•Garden, Rabley Dawing Centre, Wiltshire
2014 Eileen Cooper RA, Paintings and Works on Paper
•Atelier Rose and Gray,Hale, Cheshire
2013 Edge to Edge, Art First, London
2012 Aldeburgh Beach, South Lookout Project
2011 Showing Off, Art First, London
2010 Collages, Sir Hugh Casson Room, Royal Academy,
•London New Work, Arts Club, London
2009 Dreams of Elsewhere, Art First,
•London Crosscurrent, Brook Gallery, Budleigh, Salterton
2008 Crossing, Art First Projects, London
•Taking Stock: The Printmaking Of Eileen Cooper RA, Clifford Chance, London
•The Cornerstone Gallery, Liverpool Hope University
2007 Deeper Water, Art First, London
2006 An Encore: Eileen Cooper, Art First Projects, London
2005 Time of Your Life, Art First London
2004 Subject Matter - Paintings Drawings & Prints, Glasgow Print Studio
2003 Eileen Cooper, 50, Art First London,
•Eileen Cooper at 50, A Celebration, Art First New York
2002 Passions: New Work on Paper, Art First, London
•Passions, Art First, New York
2000 Raw Material: Eileen Cooper at Dulwich Picture Gallery,
•Raw Material Part II, Art First, London,
•Homecoming - The Prints Of Eileen Cooper, Clifford Chance, London
1999 Second Skin: Eileen Cooper in the 80s and 90s, touring to Wolverhampton, Nottingham and Eastbourne
1998 Open Secrets, Art First, London
•Graphic Work, Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset
1997 Graphic Works, The Gallery In Cork Street with Benjamin Rhodes, London
1996-97 Touring Exhibition - Graphic Work, Darlington, Harrogate & Scarborough
1995 Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames
1994 Eileen Cooper at Sadlers Wells Theatre, London ShapechangeR
•Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
1993-94 Touring Exhibition - Lifelines, Lancaster, Exeter, Newcastle, Brighton, Sheffield & Warwick
1992 Drawings, Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
1990 Paintings Drawings Prints, Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
1989 Works on Paper, Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
1988 Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
1987 Artsite Gallery, Bath
1986 Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
1985 Blond Fine Art, London, Artspace gallery, Aberdeen
1983 Blond Fine Art, London
1982 Blond Fine Art, London
1981 House Gallery, London
1979 AIR Gallery, London
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Graphic Impact: Our Lives in Print, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow
•Studio Stories, Boécho Gallery, Barnes, London
2019 Women Artists in Conversation with Partou Zia, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall
• New Mythologies, Huxley-Parlour Gallery, London
2018 Sawdust and Sequins: The Art of the Circus, Royal West of England Academy
•Masters: Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow
2017 Winter Group Show, Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent
• You see me like a UFO: Marcelle Joseph Projects, Ascot, England
• Good Nature, Candida Stevens Gallery, Chichester.
•Mono: an Exhibition of Unique Prints, Flowers Gallery, London
•Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, co ordinated by Eileen Cooper
•Women Artists: a Conversation, The Fine Art Society, London
2016 Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela Carter,Royal West of England Academy, Bristol.
•Towards Night, curated by Tom Hammick, Towner Art Gallery Eastbourne.
•Surface Cutting, Keepers House, Royal Academy of Arts
•Icon, Candida Stevens Fine Art, Chichester.
2015 She Came to Stay, Rook and Raven Gallery, London
•The Royal Academy at Wolfson, Wolson College, Cambridge
•Good Figures, Mall Galleries London
•The Downland Jerwood Gridshell West Sussex
•Delineations, Drawing at Art First, London
•Figuratively Speaking, Heike Moras Gallery,
•Marcelle Joseph Projects
2014 Master Drawings, Beaux Arts, London
•Marcelle Joseph Projects, At Home Salon
•Jerwood Drawing Prize 1994-2014: Artist as Selector, Jerwood Gallery, Hastings.
•Royal Academy Summer show ( selector and exhibitor)
•Underexposed: Female Artists and the Medium of Print. Studio 3 Gallery, University of Kent
•Wildwood, Rabley Drawing Centre, Wiltshire
•Embrace, The Wilson, Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum.
2013-14 RA Portfolio Diamond Jubilee Gift, Queens Gallery Buckingham Palace, London
2012-13 Encounter, The Royal Academy in the Middle East, Cultural Village Foundation-Katara, Doha, Qatar
•The Mechanical Hand : 25yrs of Printmaking at Paupers Press, Kings Place, Gallery, London
2012 Eileen Cooper & Sara Lee: The Peninsula Project, Stoneman Gallery, Penzance Encounter,
•The Royal Academy in Asia, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore,
•Twelve Royal Academicians in Edinburgh, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2011 Contemporary Monotypes, Glasgow Print Studio 20 Years, Art First,
•London Print Stoneman Gallery, Penzance
•The Discerning Eye, Mall gallery selector and exhibitor Bite, Mall Galleries, London
2010 Academicians (with David Mach, Neil Macpherson & Michael Visocchi),
•Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow Originals, Mall Galleries, London
2009 ZOOM, Art First, London A Tribute to Hugh Stoneman Master Printer Lemon
•St Gallery Truro Confluence curated by Eileen Cooper
•APT Gallery London
•Stoneman Gallery Penzance Originals Mall Galleries selector/exhibitor
2008 Dialogue, Art First, London
•Hugh Stoneman - Master Printer, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall
•10 (The Chris Orr Printmaking Years), Gulbenkian Galleries, RCA, London
2007 Leben Lieben, RISE Gallery, Berlin
2006 Translations - Re-working from the National Gallery, Art First, London
•Drawing Breath - 10 Years of the Jerwood Annual, Wimbledon College Of Art,London (touring UK & Sydney, Australia)
2004 The Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Space, London
•Tradition & Innovation, Scarborough Museum and Art Gallery
•Visual Wit, Royal Academy, London
2003 Art First in Print, Art First, London
•The Divine Comedy, Art Space Gallery, London
•ExPress - Printmaking From The Royal College Of Art, RCA, London
1999-2000 Hand To Hand (with Julian Stair), Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead & Art First, London
1998 The Contemporary Print Show Part I, The Barbican Centre.
1997 The Body Politik, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
1996 Spirit on the Staircase, 100 Years of Print Publishing, RCA, V&A, London
1994/95 An American Passion, The Susan Kasen Summer & Robert D Summer Collection of Contemporary Painting, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow & RoyalCollege of Art, London
1993 Contemporary Art at the Courtauld, Courtauld Institute, London
1992 The New Patrons, Twentieth Century Art from Corporate Collections, Christie's London
•Myth, Dream and Fable, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham
•Innocence and Experience, touring exhibition organised by the South Bank Centre & Manchester City Art Gallery: Manchester, Hull, Nottingham, & Glasgow
•20th Century Women's Art, New Hall, Cambridge
1991-92 Look Here Upon This Picture and On This, selected by Norbert Lynton, South Bank Centre, touring exhibition
1991 Woodlands Art Gallery, London with Paula Rego
•The Outsider: British Figuration Now, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy
•Postmodern Prints, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
1989 Picturing People, selected by Norbert Lynton, British Council tour to Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong & Singapore
1988 The New British Painting, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati & tour, USA
1987 Conversations, Arts Council Touring Exhibition
1986 The Flower Show, selected by Norbert Lynton , Stoke on Trent Museum John Moores, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1985/87 International Biennial of Graphic Art. Ljubljana, Yugoslavia
1985 Ten Years at Air, Air Gallery, London
•Hand Signals, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
•The Passion And The Power, Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York
•International Festival of Painting, Cagnes sur Mer, France
•Proud and Prejudice, selected by William Feaver, Twining Gallery, New York
1984 The Image as Catalyst, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
1982/83/87 Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1982 Nuremberg Drawing Triennial (Purchase Prize)
1980 Women's Images of Men, ICA, London
1974/76 New Contemporaries Exhibition
1977 - 2017 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
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