Cooper was born in Derbyshire in 1953. She studied at Goldsmiths College and the Royal College of Art. For many years she was a Visiting Lecturer at the Royal College (where she was made a Fellow in 2006) and the City Guilds of London Art School. She later became Head of Printmaking at the Royal Academy Schools, and in 2011 was the first woman to be elected Keeper.

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Well known as a printmaker and painter, her stylised work is rooted in a figurative tradition and characterised by the use of bold linearity and formal composition. Her images are imbued with playful narratives and her protagonists are often surrounded by artefacts and imagery that testifies to the tension between quotidian and romantic concerns.