Cooper Hart
'Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii'

Cooper Hart
'Whaleships at Delano Bay'

Cooper Hart
'Battle of Mobile Bay'

The marine paintings of Cooper Hart have been recognized for their highly accurate portrayal of America’s maritime history. His realistic watercolor images have won him national recognition in the field of marine art. Featured in the pages of Sea History, the journal of the National Maritime Historical Society, his work has twice won an Award of Excellence at the Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum in Connecticut.

Cooper is a self-taught painter whose artistic career is rooted in his experiences working in the busy shipyards of Seattle as a young man. It was there, in the home of the Alaska fishing fleet, that he saw the docks bustling with activity as the fishermen and marine craftsmen prepared their boats for the long voyage north. In the effort to bring a sense of realism and accuracy to his paintings he has often joined the fleet in Alaskan waters to observe their work firsthand.

The inspiration for his work is drawn from his own experience and from the marine artist of the past. His traditional style of painting can be attributed largely to the influence of the American Luminist movement of the mid-19th century. The Luminists were characterized by their reverence for the natural world as divine manifestation. Their use of radiant light and sensation of space, with their glowing atmospheric effects, evoke an almost mystical response.

“I particularly admire the work of John Kensett, Sanford Gifford, and Fitz Hugh Lane. I try to capture the Luminist’s crystalline, transparent light, for which watercolor is so well suited. Even as a young child I was mesmerized by their paintings of the American wilderness and found them profoundly moving.”

Cooper makes his home in the Snohomish River valley near Puget Sound, in Washington State. Working exclusively in watercolor, his subjects range from historical to contemporary. His original artwork and limited edition prints can be found in art galleries on both the East and West coasts and Hawaii.