Alan E. Cober: Drawing The Forgotten Society

Sketchbooks full of empathy for the human condition

Electric Chair*, Green Haven Prison, Stormville, New York, 1971 © Alan E. Cober

As I write this, I’m feeling a certain amount of trepidation. I am a great admirer of Alan E. Cober (1935-1998) and his work. He was an artist like no other. His subject was the human condition, shedding light with an unflinching gaze on the harsh realities of our society that were generally ignored.

Cober’s gritty and courageous visual commentary continues to inspire me and others. He was an artist who derived his inspiration from life, and in the graphic traditions found in the work of Albrect Dürer, George Grosz, and in the complete immersion one see’s in Ben Shahn’s Sacco-Vanzetti reportage.

‘Alan was an unfettered observer and a champion of the art of sketching. He always gave us an unvarnished look at his subject. He drew it the way he saw it, unrelenting and to the point.’
- William Grigsby, artist agent, Reactor Art + Design

Born in New York City, Alan E. Cober studied at the University of Vermont and the School of Visual Arts, where he was taught the importance of drawing and seeing. In 1960 he began his freelance career, building his reputation and style working for national magazines. But it was his interest in reportage that was renewed in 1971, when Newsweek hired him to make a series of drawings on prison life. 

Sing Sing Prison © Alan E. Cober

Cober’s drawings with their fine lines and rendered focus areas are captured intuitively. He was compulsive about drawing in situ and capturing both its grit and beauty in his sketchbooks. He was a fanatic about keeping journals…hundreds of them.