Russell Cowles was born in Algona, Iowa in 1887. His father was a well known newspaperman, who became publisher of the Des Moines Register and Tribune. His mother studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and encouraged his interest. He graduated from Dartmouth College (Hanover, New Hampshire) in 1909. In addition, he studied in Paris, France, as well as at the American Academy in Rome, Italy, and in New York City at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students’ League with Douglas Volk and Barry Faulkner. He assisted both artists in mural painting. In the course of his career, Cowles became known for his landscapes, figure, mural, and genre paintings. He died in New York City in 1979. A member of the Century Association, he exhibited his works at the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; the Denver Art Museum, Colorado; the Santa Barbara Museum, California; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, as well as in forty other one-man shows. His work can be found in the collections of the Denver Art Museum, Colorado, and the Terre Haute Museum, Indiana.
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Image courtesy of www.lib.drake.edu/heritage/GardnerCowlesFamily/
