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Charles
E. Cooper Studio.
The
Charles E. Cooper Studio was by far the
biggest global empire of artistic
creativity the world will ever see.
There was only one reason for this: THE
PUBLIC. The Public -- NOT
intellectuals , and not the Media that
intellectuals control -- but the
Public is the measure of
“Creativity that is its own Reward”
Atman Art.
The
story of this global empire starts with
the Civil War. The publishing industry
made the Civil War a showpiece of modern
warfare for the the whole world.
Magazines like Harper’s
and Leslie's
hired illustrators to go into the field
and use drawings to help tell the story
of the War to the American public, and
also the whole world. The popularity of
these magazines exploded to end up
decades later as publishing empires.
These
illustrators used drawings to entertain
the Public like photographs could not,
not even with today's technology. When
it came to entertaining the Public with
stories and images, illustrations, the
Civil War catapulted the publishing
industry in the U.S. into the lead
that would only increase after the war.
After the War the publishing industry
used illustrators to entertain the
public with drama, mystery, intrigue of
the Indian Wars, Wild West, Gold
Rushes, Cattle Drives... Railroads... to
continue to entertain much of the world
like the magazines of no other nation
could.
By
the early 1900s the publishing industry
in the U.S. had made the
professional illustrator belong to
the most lucrative profession in
History. Established illustrators
were more famous, popular and
wealthy than any Movie Star or Rock Star
is today. Illustrators like Thomas
Nast (1840-1902) were so
influential that they could do what no
police system could: bring corrupt
politicians like Boss
Tweed to justice. Some
Illustrators became so popular and
influential that they could determine
the outcome of elections. Never in the
history of the world have a group of
professionals had such popularity, power
and political clout.
Just
like doctors were forced to specialize
with the advances in Medicine so too
illustrators were forced to specialize
as the publishing industry turned into
empires, like with the name “William
Randolph Hearst” (1863
– 1951). In the same way
specialized doctors joined clinics to
provide their services so
too illustrators started to join
studios, Illustration Agencies, as an
efficient and effective means to provide
their services to the publishing
industry. And what Harvard and Yale and
Princeton combined is to academics
the Charles E. Cooper Studio was to
illustration/art.
While
the publishing industry in the U.S. was
still far ahead of the rest of the world
entertaining the public with stories and
illustrations the Charles E. Cooper
Studio was to the illustration/art
business globally what William
Randolph Hearst was to the publishing
industry nationally. What the New
York Yankees were to the national
sport of baseball, at the height of
their dynasty, the Charles E.
Cooper Studio was to art and
illustration globally.
Charles
E. Cooper worked like a magnet to
attract the best artists in the world
and business followed.
He was a superb businessman who took
care of his artists needs and they
rewarded him by making his agency the
greatest empire of artistic creativity
the world will see.
His
artists were the best because they
catered to the Public's tastes, needs
and wants. To Charles E. Cooper the
PUBLIC determined Creativity and his
artists, and not intellectuals, gave
it directly to them, the Public.
The art that entertains the un-prompted
Public defines Atman Art.
The
reason Cooper became a global empire was
because in Europe intellectuals
controlled the meaning of “art.”
Intellectuals tried to do the same in
the U.S. by forcing their "Modern
Art" onto the public ... but it would
take a few decades before this Modern
Art would finally destroy the magazines
that originally thrived by entertaining
the Public.
Because
of academics, artists and illustrators
in Europe were trained to ignore the
Public by catering to
intellectuals. If magazines in
Europe wanted to sell to
intellectuals then they had all
sorts of European artists and
illustrators who were trained with this
academics. However, if the
magazines – anywhere in the world
– wanted to cater to the Public
then they needed artists that catered to
the Public... and in the world the one
agency – far more than any other –
that had the best artists who
catered to the Public's tastes
was the Charles E Cooper Studio.
The
Public made the publishing industry boom
as long as it gave the Public what
it wanted: entertainment.
When
the likes of wars and revolutions slowly
shifted the focus of magazines from
entertainment to the likes of
propaganda and documentaries ... the
Public lost interest and the magazines
started to die. The public simply
switched to reading comics and novels,
and then later movies and TV to get what
they wanted – what they still want
more than anything else for their
entertainment, be it movies, TV and
novels: entertainment.
After
the magazines started to slowly die by
moving away from entertaining the Public
intellectuals took magazines over with
their “other art,” intellectual-art that
is still the most insanely
manipulated commodity known to money
and the IRS: “Modern
Art.”
When
the art in magazines shifted from Atman
Art -- the art that entertained the
Public -- to the intellectual’s Modern
Art it was the final nail in the coffin
for all magazines because it did nothing
but alienate the very Public that made
these magazines successful in the first
place. And when the magazines died
with it went a large part of the
illustration and editorial business of
agencies like Charles E. Cooper Studio.
--
geza palotas
|
 "Mr
Charles E. Cooper of CEC, Charles E.
Cooper Studio")
