Cooper, Fred G.

Although Fred G. Cooper (1883–1961) is not well known today, he was one of America’s great illustrators in the Twenties – if not the greatest.
In addition to his voluminous output of advertising work, posters and graphic art, Cooper was a constant contributor to some of the most popular publications of the day including The Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Liberty and the old comic weekly, Life. From c. 1909 to 1932, Cooper regularly supplied Life with color covers, column-wide editorial spot cartoons (“cartoonettes”) and hundreds of full-page comics, brilliant manipulations of the comic strip format, masterpieces of pure design, composed to perfection.
Cooper was a lettering enthusiast. In his work, lettering and illustration went hand in hand. Every single letter on those wonderfully eccentric pages is fully hand-painted. Far from a necessary evil, Cooper’s lettering enhanced his artwork not only in the meaning it conveyed, but also in the decorative sense. He wed the two as effectively as Cole Porter’s music developed the mood and meter of his lyrics. You cannot imagine one without the other.
In the eyes of many connoisseurs, Cooper represents the ultimate twentieth-century illustrator. You have to be in awe of his versatility, his design and drawing skills, his lettering, his intelligence and wit. A brilliant mind at work, second only to George Herriman.
Only 14 of those original pages from Life are known to exist, without exception originating from a fragment of the artist’s estate.
Recommended reading: Leslie Cabarga: The Lettering and Graphic Design of F.G. Cooper, Glenbrook 1996