"I work for a group of artists."

"By the early 60's, an era was drawing to a close. 'Basically,' says [Cooper artist] Murry Tinkelman, "I think the boy-girl business that was the heart and soul of the studio, was becoming obsolete. And the nature of the studio business was becoming obsolete: the idea of three floors in some of the most expensive real estate in the world was just too much.'

The studio closed its doors in the mid-60's, after which Cooper started a smaller operation. He made attempts at using his former artist, such as Bob Jones... but as Jones puts it, 'Nothing ever materialized.' Murray Tinkelman's last memory of Charles Cooper was 'seeing him in a one-room office, thinking how sad it was that such an innovative and powerful force in the business ended up that way.'

Charles E. Cooper died in 1974, at age 73. Bob Jones says, 'I think Chuck died from having nothing to do.'


According to Joe Bowler, 'The most important thing you could write about Chuck Cooper is what I heard when I first started out. Someone asked Chuck what he did, and he said, 'I work for a group of artists.' At that time, every other studio head, when asked what they did, said, 'I have a bunch of artists working for me' Chuck always had the idea that the artist was number one. It was what made him unique in the business.'"

*You can read the entire article by author Neil Shapiro in the 16th issue of Illustration magazine.