Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 8, 1856, Colin Campbell Cooper was the son of surgeon Dr. Colin Campbell Cooper and Emily William Cooper.

He enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and studied under Thomas Eakins. In 1886 he went to Europe, as did many young artists who could afford it. After making a tour of the Lowlands he studied in Paris at the Academies Julian.

Cooper moved to Southern California in 1921 where he became Dean of the Santa Barbara School for the Arts, and settled in Santa Barbara. He simultaneously kept a New York residence for many years, and thus maintained a presence on both coasts. He maintained a home in Santa Barbara until his death in 1937.

Coopers work is most often discussed in the context of a particular place or movement--American Impressionism within New York, or Impressionism within California are most frequent. Also referenced is work by Cooper that falls within the American Orientalist movement. He is also referred to as an American painter who, sophisticated and well-trained and -traveled, throughout his life documented his many travels. Both of these tendencies are evident in his painting Summer which shows an impressionist summer day of two young women boating, shaded by an oriental umbrella.