Each person has a different idea of success. One is eager for high posts, the other is proud of his children. The third writes paintings and books. Yuri Cooper is an artist and writer, better known abroad than in his native land.
Starting conditions
For the most part, people living on different continents give little thought to the meaning of their existence. Life is designed in such a way as to unobtrusively guide each person along his own individual path. Obstacles on the path of life are always present. And in what way they can be overcome, the traveler decides.
Yuri Leonidovich Cooper was born on July 5, 1940 in a family of creative intelligentsia. Parents lived in Moscow. Father, a professional musician, masterfully played the violin. Mother worked in the city library.
The child is not even one year old when the war began. My father volunteered for the front and soon died. The boy and his mother were sent to evacuate beyond the Urals, where they spent almost three years. When Yura was seven years old, he went to school. Life in the post-war period was fun, but challenging. The future artist spent most of his free time in the yard. Here he had real friends with whom he shared both troubles and joys. White-washed vest. Old, patched-patched chrome boots with accordion shafts. Yellow metal fixation in the mouth. That was the uniform of Moscow yards.
At school, Yuri studied well. Although he never completed homework. Good memory and endurance allowed him to move from class to class. When the conversation came about choosing a profession, then depending on the situation, he answered differently. At home, he said that he wanted to become a policeman. And in the courtyard, when communicating with the guys, he imagined himself to be either a pilot or a captain of a submarine. The fact that he dreams of becoming an artist, his thoughts did not creep in. Cooper had a solid three in drawing at school.
Yuri was lucky to some extent. By the age of seventeen, he did not go to jail for a fight or petty theft, as happened with some friends. He felt in himself a powerful potential and readiness for creativity, but had absolutely no idea in which sphere to realize his strength. Further fate was determined by "comrade case." A close friend invited him to enter the Central Art and Industrial College named after Stroganov. The first time Cooper was not accepted. Failure served as a kind of trigger. He thoroughly prepared and the next year he became a full-fledged student.
Professional activity
Having received a specialized education, in 1962, Cooper began his career at the Young Guard Publishing House. In that chronological segment, which will be called the "thaw", new, young authors came to the literature. Many of them published their works on the pages of "thick" magazines. The young designer artist easily found a common language with writers and poets. In order to properly illustrate a book, it must be read, understood and loved. Yuri never cheated on this rule. Although not in love often.
Gradually, fame for an advanced artist spread throughout Moscow and beyond. Coopers began to be involved in the design of scenery for performances. Along with the fulfillment of these orders, the artist managed to paint in his studio. Gradually, he began to stand out from the party of good and different painters. By all formal criteria, the career was developing successfully. At the same time, the projects that he proposed to customers began to receive comments. Adjustments and “wishes” began to descend from the higher echelons of power. In this way, censorship was carried out.
Foreign creativity
After much hesitation and doubt, the highly successful Soviet artist Yuri Cooper decided to leave the borders of his native country. In 1972, he received permission to leave and moved to Israel. Then many people tried to change their fate in this way. But just a few months later, the artist moved to Paris. Here Cooper got into his native environment. Speaking in protocol language, the career of a Soviet artist was developing rapidly. He carried out orders from book publishers and jewelry workshops.
Cooper acquired an elegant castle in Normandy, which is often used by filmmakers for their scenery. This purchase allows you to imagine what is the level of income of a famous artist. Then Yuri Leonidovich decided to settle in New York. And he spent a decade and a half in this city. Here he formed a kind of headquarters, where the artist received and executed orders from different countries and cities.
