Robert Cottingham lives and works on an eighteenth century New England farm, but the subject matter he paints is strictly urban. Tattoo parlors, seamy bar fronts, five-and-dime stores, trashy movie... Read full biography
Robert Cottingham lives and works on an eighteenth century New England farm, but the subject matter he paints is strictly urban. Tattoo parlors, seamy bar fronts, five-and-dime stores, trashy movie marquees, or the advertising on a pancake house are all the urban symbols he utilizes to construct... Read full biography
Robert Cottingham lives and works on an eighteenth century New England farm, but the subject matter he paints is strictly urban. Tattoo parlors, seamy bar fronts, five-and-dime stores, trashy movie marquees, or the advertising on a pancake house are all the urban symbols he utilizes to construct his complex paintings. He ferrets out the architectural details, symbols, and letter fragments of facades from the 1940s and '50s, giving us a glimpse of a true American folk art; garish, trite, yet... Read full biography
Robert Cottingham lives and works on an eighteenth century New England farm, but the subject matter he paints is strictly urban. Tattoo parlors, seamy bar fronts, five-and-dime stores, trashy movie marquees, or the advertising on a pancake house are all the urban symbols he utilizes to construct his complex paintings. He ferrets out the architectural details, symbols, and letter fragments of facades from the 1940s and '50s, giving us a glimpse of a true American folk art; garish, trite, yet somehow endearing. Cottingham finds more than just the materials of a sign fascinating. "Commercial signs are amazing" he says. "Here are these elaborate, monumental structures designed solely to tell you that this is where you can buy a hamburger or a... Read full biography
Robert Cottingham lives and works on an eighteenth century New England farm, but the subject matter he paints is strictly urban. Tattoo parlors, seamy bar fronts, five-and-dime stores, trashy movie marquees, or the advertising on a pancake house are all the urban symbols he utilizes to construct his complex paintings. He ferrets out the architectural details, symbols, and letter fragments of facades from the 1940s and '50s, giving us a glimpse of a true American folk art; garish, trite, yet somehow endearing. Cottingham finds more than just the materials of a sign fascinating. "Commercial signs are amazing" he says. "Here are these elaborate, monumental structures designed solely to tell you that this is where you can buy a hamburger or a pack of cigarettes. You can see these signs as hilarious or pathetic. All that effort, all the pomposity just to sell yo... Read full biography
Robert Cottingham - Artist Info
About Robert Cottingham: Books
Books & Publications (51)
Publications based on askART research. List may not be comprehensive.
Photorealism in the Digital Age:
2013
Meisel, Louis K.
320 pages (color)
The Artists Bluebook 34,000 North American Artists to March 2005
2005
AskART.com Inc. - Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson (Editor)
479 pages
Davenport's Art Reference: The Gold Edition
2005
Davenport, Ray
2,421 pages
Paint on Metal: Modern and Contemporary Explorations and Discoveries
2005
Sasse, Julie
154 pages (color)
Who's Who in American Art, 2004 2003 - 2004 (25th Edition)
2004
McGowan, Alison C (Editor)
1,512 pages
Robert Cottingham, New Still Lifes (Exhibition catalog)
2004
Wolfe,Townsend (essay)
24 pages (color)
Who's Who in American Art, 1997-1998
1997
Marquis Who's Who
1,515 pages
Landfall Press: Twenty-Five Years Of Printmaking
1996
Ruzicka, Joseph
220 pages (color)
Printmaking in America Collaborative Prints and Presses 1960-1990
1995
Hansen, Trudy (others)
248 pages (color)
Art Today
1995
Lucie-Smith, Edward
512 pages (color)
American Realism-Figurative Painting Cline Fine Art Gallery, Santa Fe (Exhibition catalog)
1994
Arthur, John (Curator and Essayist)
64 pages (color)
Who's Who in American Art, 1993-1994, 20th Edition (American Federation of Arts)
1993
Bowker R R
1,473 pages
Photorealism Since 1980
1993
Meisel, Louis K
368 pages (color)
Tandem Press: Five Years Of Collaboration and Experimentation
1993
Stevens, Andrew (essay)
116 pages (color)
Word As Image American Art 1960-1990 (Exhibition catalog)
1990
Bowman, Russell/Dean Sobel
172 pages (color)
Contemporary Artists (3rd Edition)
1989
Naylor, Colin (editor)
1,059 pages
American Realist Painting 1945-1980
1989
Ward, John L
431 pages
The American Collections Columbus Museum of Art
1988
Columbus Museum of Art
271 pages (color)
Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists (5th Edition)
1987
Cummings, Paul
653 pages
Robert Cottingham, A Print Retrospective (Exhibition catalog)
1986
Arthur, John
72 pages (color)
A Guide to the Collections: Smith College Museum of Art
1986
Chetham, Charles; David Grose
312 pages (color)
Who's Who in American Art-1986 1986
1986
Jaques Cattell Press
1,292 pages
American Artists: An Illustrated Survey of Leading Contemporary Americans
1985
Krantz, Les
347 pages (color)
American Art Now
1985
Lucie-Smith, Edward
160 pages (color)
The American West The Modern Vision
1984
Broder, Patricia Janis
345 pages (color)
American Art Since 1970, Painting, Sculpture and Drawing Whitney Museum of American Art (Exhibition catalog)
1984
Marshall, Richard
124 pages
Art of the States Works from a Santa Barbara Collection (Exhibition catalog)
1984
McDonald, Robert; Richard Vincent West
80 pages (color)
American Printmaking A Century of American Printmaking 1880-1980
1984
Watrous, James
334 pages (color)
The Art of New York
1983
Chwast, Seymour/S Heller
190 pages
A Heritage Renewed Representational Drawing Today (Exhibition catalog)
1983
Plous, Phyllis
87 pages (color)
Drawing Acquisitions, 1978-1981 Whitney Museum of American Art
1981
Cummings, Paul
64 pages
Contemporary American Realism Since 1960 (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts)
1981
Goodyear, Frank H, Jr.
255 pages (color)
Realist Drawings & Watercolors Contemporary American Works on Papers
1980
Arthur, John
144 pages (color)
Realism/Photorealism (Exhibition catalog)
1980
Arthur, John
123 pages (color)
Shock of the New: The Hundred Years History of American Art Its Rise, Dazzling Achievement, Its Fall
1980
Hughes, Robert
423 pages (color)
American Painting of the Sixties and Seventies (Exhibition catalog)
1980
Kahan, Mitchell Douglas
88 pages (color)
Superrealist Painting and Sculpture
1980
Lindey, Christine
160 pages (color)
Museum of Fine Arts The American and European Collections
1979
Springfield Library & Museum
216 pages (color)
The Fine Arts in America
1979
Taylor, Joshua C
264 pages
Artists Look at Art (Exhibition catalog)
1978
Hennessey, William J
60 pages
Art About Art
1978
Lipman, Jean/Richard Marshall
176 pages (color)
Spencer Museum of Art Handbook of the Collection
1978
Spencer Museum of Art
168 pages (color)
Art Since Pop
1978
Walker, John
110 pages (color)
New in the Seventies (Archer Huntington Gallery Exhibition) (Exhibition catalog)
1977
Seabolt, Fred/Donald Goodall
60 pages (color)
30 Years of American Printmaking Including 20th National Print Exhibition (Exhibition catalog)
1976
Baro, Gene
160 pages (color)
New Realism
1976
Kulturmann, Udo
190 pages (color)
America as Art
1976
Taylor, Joshua C
320 pages (color)
Super Realism: A Critical Anthology
1975
Battcock, Gregory (editor)
322 pages (color)
Catalogue of American Paintings in British Public Collections
1974
Gidley, Mick
58 pages
Les Hyperrrealists Americains
1973
Chase, Linda
76 pages (color)
Separate Realities California Representational Painting/Sculpture (Exhibition catalog)