Lot Essay
RELATED LITERATURE
R.N. Coen, Painting and Sculpture in Minnesota 1820-1914, St. Paul, 1976, p. 66
Benjamin Cooley was born in LeRoy, New York and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He attended the Branch University in Kalamazoo in 1838. Having exhibited a talent for painting, Cooley moved to St. Paul, Minnesota where he set up a professional portrait studio in the 1840s and again in the 1870s. Cooley is considered one of Minnesota's earliest professional resident artists.
R.N. Coen, Painting and Sculpture in Minnesota 1820-1914, St. Paul, 1976, p. 66
Benjamin Cooley was born in LeRoy, New York and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He attended the Branch University in Kalamazoo in 1838. Having exhibited a talent for painting, Cooley moved to St. Paul, Minnesota where he set up a professional portrait studio in the 1840s and again in the 1870s. Cooley is considered one of Minnesota's earliest professional resident artists.