Ebenezer Cooke (art education reformer)
Encyclopedia
Ebenezer Cooke was an art master and pioneer in art education
.
An apprenticed lithographic draughtsman
, he was introduced by his brother to the lectures of Frederick Denison Maurice at the Hall of Association, 34 Castle Street East, London, in 1853 and the summer of 1854. When the Working Men’s College
was formed in 1854, he attended John Ruskin
’s first drawing classes. After an unsuccessful partnership with John Fotheringham, also a student at the college, he gave up his trade and then took to teaching though the influence of Ruskin. He succeeded Ruskin as a Drawing Master at the College, and taught at other London establishments.
During the 1850s and 1860s Cooke was influenced by Herbert Spencer
, and became a student of Pestalozzi
, developing an enthusiasm for the Pestalozzian and Froebellian methods in which he became an influential interpreter. With Thomas Ablett, Alexander Bain
, and psychologist James Sully
, he furthered art education thinking; Sully and Cooke were a particular influence on each other.
He served on the Council of the Education Society (founded 1875) which later became Society for the Development of the Science of Education. In 1885 Cooke published an analysis of children’s drawings that became a great influence on teachers and researchers, and in 1894 published an English edition of Pestalozzi's How Gertrude Teaches Her Children. In 1904 he sat on the Committee of the Third International Congress for the Development of Drawing and Art Teaching.
Vanessa Bell
began her art education under the tutelage of Cooke.
Art education
Art education is the area of learning that is based upon the visual, tangible arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practical fields such as commercial graphics and home furnishings...
.
An apprenticed lithographic draughtsman
Draughtsman
A draughtsman or draftsman , is a person skilled in drawing, either:*drawing for artistic purposes, or*technical drawing for practical purposes such as architecture or engineering...
, he was introduced by his brother to the lectures of Frederick Denison Maurice at the Hall of Association, 34 Castle Street East, London, in 1853 and the summer of 1854. When the Working Men’s College
Working Men's College
The Working Men's College- WMC, being among the earliest adult education institutions established in the United Kingdom, is Europe's oldest extant centre for adult education and perhaps one of its smallest...
was formed in 1854, he attended John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
’s first drawing classes. After an unsuccessful partnership with John Fotheringham, also a student at the college, he gave up his trade and then took to teaching though the influence of Ruskin. He succeeded Ruskin as a Drawing Master at the College, and taught at other London establishments.
During the 1850s and 1860s Cooke was influenced by Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
, and became a student of Pestalozzi
Pestalozzi
Pestalozzi may refer to:* Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi * Hans A. Pestalozzi Schools with that name:* Colegio Pestalozzi, Argentina* Pestalozzi-Gymnasium Biberach, Germany* Kinderdorf Pestalozzi, Switzerland...
, developing an enthusiasm for the Pestalozzian and Froebellian methods in which he became an influential interpreter. With Thomas Ablett, Alexander Bain
Alexander Bain
Alexander Bain was a Scottish philosopher and educationalist in the British school of empiricism who was a prominent and innovative figure in the fields of psychology, linguistics, logic, moral philosophy and education reform...
, and psychologist James Sully
James Sully
James Sully was an English psychologist.He was born at Bridgwater, and was educated at the Independent College, Taunton, the Regent's Park College, University of Göttingen, where he studied under Lotze, and at Humboldt University, Berlin where he studied under DuBois-Reymond and Helmholtz...
, he furthered art education thinking; Sully and Cooke were a particular influence on each other.
He served on the Council of the Education Society (founded 1875) which later became Society for the Development of the Science of Education. In 1885 Cooke published an analysis of children’s drawings that became a great influence on teachers and researchers, and in 1894 published an English edition of Pestalozzi's How Gertrude Teaches Her Children. In 1904 he sat on the Committee of the Third International Congress for the Development of Drawing and Art Teaching.
Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury group, and the sister of Virginia Woolf.- Biography and art :...
began her art education under the tutelage of Cooke.