Hereward Lester Cooke was born in 1916 in Princeton, New Jersey. He pursued his education at Oxford University, the Art Students League (under the instruction of George Bridgman), the Yale University School of Fine Art, and the Princeton University Graduate School, where he earned his Ph.D. During WWII, Cooke was a pilot and combat intelligence specialist in the Army Air Forces, receiving the Bronze Star and the Air Medal.
Cooke is primarily recognized for his contributions to art history rather than his painting, having authored several influential texts, including Painting Lessons from the Great Masters, published in 1967.From 1961 to 1973, Cooke served as the Curator of Painting at the National Gallery of Art, having previously worked as an aide and acting assistant director starting in 1956. One of his key responsibilities as curator was overseeing the Expert Opinions Section of the National Gallery, where art owners could have their works appraised or identified. Renowned as an authority on art fakes and forgeries, Cooke earned the nickname "Sherlock Holmes of the Art World" for his adeptness in solving art attribution mysteries.
In his role as curator, Cooke significantly impacted government-sponsored art programs, helping select artists for the Environmental Protection Agency's art initiative and serving as an art advisor to NASA for ten years. He organized the National Gallery's exhibition of NASA art in 1969. From his time as an art advisor for NASA, he wrote and released the book Eyewitness to Space in 1972. While his achievements in art history were widely recognized, he was also esteemed as an artist. Cooke was appointed director of the American pavilion at the Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition, served as artist-in-residence at Princeton for four years, and received the prestigious Prix de Rome and a Fulbright fellowship. In 1940, he was awarded the American Beaux Arts Prize for murals.
The Bureau of Reclamation's art collection features two of Hereward Lester Cooke's drawings, both depicting the Grand Coulee Dam project. One is titled Street Scene, Grand Coulee, while the other is Construction Tower. The two drawings have a rough, sketch appearance done in sepia ink, pen and pencil, and were likely created onsite in Grand Coulee, Washington. Quick movements and repetitive lines build up the structures in both pieces.
In Construction Tower, the smudges of pencil on the massive rock walls surrounding a construction tower darken and push the depth of the piece, drawing the viewer to focus on the scaffolding of the tower. In the foreground boulders and rocks are hastily sketched to give an idea of the scene and support the central focus of the construction tower.
In Street Scene, Grand Coulee, the diagonal road guides the viewer's gaze through the composition, reinforcing a dynamic feeling of movement. The predominant vertical movement in this piece is emphasized by the numerous signs, streetlamps, electricity lines, and concrete tubes that move upward, piercing the open sky. The combination of these vertical structures and sketchy vehicles conveys the dynamic and energy of life built around and below the dam.
In contrast, his earlier works, often featuring the old fish wharves of Washington, D.C., displayed tighter lines and delineated features. These two drawings, dated 1970, reflect a stylistic evolution towards the end of Cooke’s life. Just a few short years later he passed in 1973, at 57 years old in Falls Church, Virginia from a heart attack.