About Artist Selected Artworks News Exhibitions

About Artist

Born in the Peak District in 1953, Cooper has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. Her work is held in many public and private collections including as the Arts Council Collection; The British Museum; The Royal Collection; Victoria & Albert Museum; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Kunsthalle, Nuremberg; Walpole Library, Yale University.

Studying first at Goldsmiths College (1971-74) and then at the Royal College of Art (1974-77). In 2000 Cooper was elected a Royal Academician. From 2010-17 Cooper served as Keeper of the Royal Academy, one of only 4 officers selected from the 80 Royal Academicians, and with primary responsibility for the Royal Academy Schools, thereby becoming the first woman to be elected to this role since the RA began in 1768.

Selected Artworks

News

Eileen Cooper will be bringing a new collection of original works on paper to her Solo Show at Rabley Gallery: Swimming in the Night Sky.

8th – 27th April 2024

More details

Exhibitions

Career

1953 Born Glossop, Derbyshire
1970–71 Ashton-under-Lyne College of Further Education
1971–74 Goldsmiths College, London
1974–77 Royal College of Art, London
1977–2000 Visiting lecturer at Art Schools throughout the UK, including Falmouth School of Art, Leicester Polytechnic, St. Martin’s School of Art, Camberwell School of Art and City and Guilds, London
1994–2006 Part time Lecturer in Printmaking at Royal College of Art
2001 Elected Royal Academician
2002 Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers
2005–2010 Head of Printmaking, Royal Academy Schools
2006 Fellow, Royal College of Art
2011–2017 Elected Keeper of the Royal Academy
2011 Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Art
2014 Honorary Doctor of Arts, Southampton Solent University
2016 Honorary Fellow, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
2016 OBE for services to Art and Art Education
2022 Elected Royal West of England Academician

Selected solo exhibitions

2024 Swimming in the Night Sky, Rabley Gallery Marlborough Wiltshire
2023 Ambivalence and Desire, Huxley Parlour Gallery, London
2023 Radium Dreams, The Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.
2022, Somewhere or Other, Huxley, Parlour Gallery, London
2021, Nights at the Circus, Sims Reed Gallery, London
2019 Personal Space: New Paintings, Huxley Parlour Gallery, London
Short Stories, Sims Reed Gallery, London
2018 Forest, Rabley Gallery, Marlborough, Wiltshire
Under the Same Moon, Letitia Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
Night Music (or Labour of Love), The Cornhall, Diss, Norfolk
2017 Till the Morning Comes, The Fine Art Society, London
Eileen Cooper: A Woman’s Skin, Wolfson College, Cambridge
2016–2017 Hide and Seek, Drawing 1977–2014, touring to Swindon Museum and Art Gallery and 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 Gray, Hale, Cheshire
2013 Edge to Edge, Art First, London
2012 Aldeburgh Beach Lookout Project, Suffolk
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 and 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, London
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
1998 Graphic Work, Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset
1997 Graphic Works, The Gallery in Cork Street with Benjamin Rhodes, London
1996–97 New Graphic Works, touring Darlington, Harrogate and Scarborough
1995 Bohun Gallery, Henley-on-Thames
1994 Eileen Cooper at Sadlers Wells Theatre, London
Shapechanger, Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
1993–94 Lifelines, touring Lancaster, Exeter, Newcastle, Brighton, Sheffield and Warwick
1992 Drawings, Benjamin Rhodes Gallery, London
1990 Paintings, Drawings and 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

Selected group exhibitions

2024 Mirror Mirror , Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery London.
2024 Acts of Creation:On Art and Motherhood, Hayward Gallery Touring Exhibition to Arnolfini Bristol, MAC Birmingham, Millennium Gallery Sheffield,
2023 Women in Revolt ! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990, Tate Britain, touring to National Galleries of Scotland: Modern, Edinburgh, The Whitworth, University of Manchester
2023 Contested Bodies, Leeds University Galleries, Leeds
2023 Women and Water, Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
2023 Towner 100: The Living Collection, Towner Eastbourne
2023 A Living Collection, Hepworth Wakefield
2023 Group Show, Aspex Portsmouth
2022 Act 1: Body en Thrall with the Rugby Collection, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum.
2022 An Ode to Orlando, Pi Artworks, 55 Eastcastle St, London.
2021 Hockney to Himid : 60 years of British Printmaking, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
2021 Eileen Cooper, Pinkie McClure, Sam Ainslie, AnTobar Gallery, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland
2021 An Intimate Distance, Craigie Aitchison Eileen Cooper Natasha Michaels Jo Taylor, Rabley Gallery, Wiltshire
2020 Graphic Impact: Our Lives in Print, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow
Secret Studio, Boecho Gallery, Barnes
2019 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
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, Scotland.
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.
Cut, Glasgow Print Studio, Glasgow, Scotland
Mono: an Exhibition of Unique Prints, Flowers Gallery, London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, coordinated 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 and Jerwood Gridshell Space, Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, West Sussex
Delineations, Drawing at Art First, London
Figuratively Speaking, Heike Moras Art and Marcelle Joseph Projects, London
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 Exhibition (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 galleries, London (selector and exhibitor)
Bite, Mall galleries, London
2010 Academicians (with David Mach, Neil Macpherson and Michael Visocchi), Glasgow Print Studio
Originals, Mall Galleries, London
2009 ZOOM, Art First, London
A Tribute to Hugh Stoneman Master Printer, Lemon St Gallery, Truro
Confluence, APT Gallery London and Stoneman Gallery Penzance (curator)
Originals, Mall Galleries, London (selector and exhibitor)
2008 Dialogue, Art First, London
Hugh Stoneman – Master Printer, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall
10 (The Chris Orr Printmaking Years), Gulbenkian Galleries, Royal College of Art, 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 and (touring UK and Sydney, Australia)
2004 The Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Space, London
Tradition and 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
E’xPress – Printmaking From The Royal College of Art, Royal College of Art, London
1999–2000 Hand To Hand (with Julian Stair), Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead and Art First, London
1998 The Contemporary Print Show Part I, Barbican Centre, London
1997 The Body Politik, Wolverhampton Art Gallery
1996 Spirit on the Staircase, 100 Years of Print Publishing, Royal College of Art, Victoria & Albert Museum, London
1994–95 An American Passion, The Susan Kasen Summer & Robert D Summer Collection of Contemporary Painting, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow and Royal College 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, South Bank Centre, London and Manchester City Art Gallery, touring (Hull, Nottingham and 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 (Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Singapore)
1988 The New British Painting, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati and touring (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
1977–2017 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London
1974–6 New Contemporaries Exhibition, Camden Arts Centre, London

Awards and commissions

2017 Coordinator, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2010 and 2013 Artist in residence, Alayrac, France
2009 Curator and coordinator, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
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
Cover and illustrations for Meeting Midnight by Carol Ann Duffy, published by Faber & Faber
1998–9 Artist in residence, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
1986 Frontispiece for Thrown Voices by Carol Ann Duffy, published by Bernard Stone
1982 Staircase Project, ICA, London
Purchase Prize, Nuremberg Drawing Triennial

Selected public collections

Arts Council Collection
Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
British Council
British Museum
Dallas Museum of Art
Imperial College, London
Kunsthalle, Nuremberg
Leicester Museums
Manchester Art Galleries
Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate
MIMA, Middlesborough
National Portrait Gallery
New Hall Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge
Newport Art Gallery
Open University, Milton Keynes
Otter Gallery
Pallant House
The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Royal Academy of Arts
Royal Collection
Swindon Art Gallery
Tate
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne
University of Warwick Art Collection
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Walpole Library, Yale University, USA
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
Wolverhampton Art Gallery