Alexander Cooper (1934-2020) Jamaican, Watercolor Portrait. A couple with a townscape in the distance. Signed lower right.

Overall Size: 34 1/2 x 25 in.

Sight Size: 22 x 12 in.

Born Joshua Alexander Cooper in Enfield, St Mary 1934, Cooper realised his innate talent as a young boy though creating illustration of Bible stories, requested of him by his teachers. While growing up, Cooper admired and was inspired by the works of other Jamaican painters such as Albert Huie and Ralph Campbell. Following in their footsteps, Cooper excelled at painted genre scenes which documented the everyday happenings of Jamaican city and rural life. At the beginning of his journey as a professional artist, Cooper was awarded a government scholarship and matriculated to the Jamaica School of the Arts (now the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts) where he received a substantial part of his training as an artist, graduating in 1959. Cooper then expanded his vision towards a more international perspective, when he moved to New York in 1963 to study at The Art Students League and the School of the Visual Arts. After receiving formal training from among the best internationally, he returned to newly independent Jamaica in 1967 to contribute to the national development of his nation through visual arts. Alexander Cooper has received numerous awards for his outstanding contribution to the development of visual arts in Jamaica. He was the recipient in 1962 and in 1964 of first prize in the Jamaica National Fine Arts Competition. Listed among his achievements, in 1965, at a very controversial time in American history for people of African descent, Alexander was the first Jamaican artist to be invited to hold an art show at the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. (Olympia Gallery). He was presented with the Prime Minister’s Award in 1993 and the Institute of Jamaica’s Silver Musgrave Award in 2001. In 2016, Mr. Cooper was conferred with a national honour – the Order of Distinction (Officer rank) – by the Jamaican Government for his “outstanding contribution to the arts”. In 2017, the NGJ organized a tribute exhibition in honour of his career achievements, featured as part of the Jamaica Biennial of that year.

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