Astley D. M. Cooper and Mrs. Stanford’s Jewels

Nationally recognized during his time but largely forgotten in our own, painter Astley D. M. Cooper (1856–1924) used a faux Egyptian temple as a studio, paid off bar debts with paintings, and threw the wildest parties that San Jose, California had ever seen. With their luscious colors and trompe l’oeil trickery, his landscapes, portraits, and wild western scenes aimed to both please and astonish. This exhibition, curated by Annie Ronan, PhD, Department of Art & Art History, explores Cooper’s life as well as the Bay Area bohemia out of which he first emerged.

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