Russell Cowles (1887-1979) was born in Algona, Iowa. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1909 and studied painting in Paris as well as at the American Academy in Rome and in New York City at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students’ League with Douglas Volk and Barry Faulker. There he assisted both artists in mural painting.
Over the course of his career, Cowles became known for his landscapes, figure, mural and genre paintings. A member of the Century Association, he exhibited his works at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Denver Art Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, as well as in 40 other solo exhibitions. Cowles was a Fellow at MacDowell and died in New York City in 1979. Today, his work can be found in the Denver Art Museum in Colorado and the Terre Haute Museum in Indiana.
