Colin Campbell Cooper

Born in Philadelphia to well-educated and financially comfortable parents who encouraged him in his decision to pursue a career as an artist. He became an internationally successful painter, famous for his impressionistic street scenes, landscapes and architectural subjects. Cooper made frequent sojourns to study abroad in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy. In 1902 he and his wife, painter Emma Lampbert, settled in New York City where, for the next twenty years, Cooper painted the street scenes that made him famous.

In 1921, after the death of his wife, Cooper moved to Santa Barbara where he became the Dean of Painting at the Santa Barbara Community School of Art.