Ed Cooper graduated in 1961 from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA, then served in the Army for four years, in Japan. He learned to speak the language fluently, which led him to a master’s degree in Japanese history at American University. In 1969, Ed moved to New York and began his doctorate in modern Korean history at Columbia University. He completed the course work and research for his degree, and spent considerable time studying in Korea on a Fulbright Scholarship. In order to receive his doctorate, the university also required that Ed study Chinese. Unforeseen life events caused him to return to the United States before he was able to complete his final doctoral paper. Cooper then served as an illustrator for the Department of Defense (some illustrations are in the Smithsonian), from which he retired about seven years ago. Over the years, Ed always spent a large part of his private time painting en plein air.
Ed has been juried into the Plein Air-Easton! Art Competition and Festival each of the three years of the festival’s existence. In 2007, The Academy Art Museum purchased one Ed’s competition paintings for its permanent collection. He won Third Prize in the main competition in 2006, and in 2005 he received an Honorable Mention in the main competition. In 2004, Ed was included in a select group of plein air painters invited to paint at Malcolm Forbes’s Chateau de Balleroy in France. Ed was also an award winner at the Arts in Parks exhibition in 2001. His work has been published in magazines such as American Artist and International Artist, and is widely collected.
Ed is a member of the Washington Society of Landscape Painters, the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters Association, Oil Painters of America, and the Art League of Alexandria, Virginia.
