News item about Joseph Cowell, famous painter, who was a nine letter winner in Bradley sports while in school there.

Joseph Cowell was born on December 4, 1886, in Peoria, Ilinois, where his father worked as an interior decorator. He grew up in Peoria and attended Bradley Polytechnic Institute from 1908 to 1909.

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Joseph Goss Cowell was born on December 4, 1886 in Peoria, Illinois, to Benjamin and Mary Anna Cowell. Other members of the Cowell family owned property in Wrentham, Massachusetts, but Joseph grew up in Peoria, Illinois where his dad worked as an interior decorator. After high school, he attended Bradley College in Peoria, Illinois from 1902-1906, the University of Illinois from 1907-1908, the Art Students League of New York from 1908-1909, the School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from 1909-1912, the County Council School of Arts and Crafts in London from1914-1915 and the Academie Julien in Paris in 1920.

After fighting in WWI, Joseph lived in Paris, France. In a certain area of Paris lived artists, writers and musicians that were known as “The Bohemians”. While Joseph was there, he painted several gruesome war scenes to release his inner emotions about the war. He spoke of destroying the paintings later in his life. On March 26, 1918, he married Helen Parkhurst, who was an accomplished violinist, pianist and organist. They had one child, a daughter named Jean.

When Joseph returned to the United States, he was an instructor at the Massachusetts School of Art from 1922-1927, the Associate Director of Boston Designers Art School from 1927-1933, in the Creative Therapy and Research Department at Boston State Hospital from 1933-1939 and the Director of the National Art School in Washington, D.C., from 1940-1942. He was with the Offices of Strategic Services from 1942-1943 and the Navy Hydrographic Office in Washington, DC in 1943. Through the course of Joseph’s life, he was an artist, a sculptor, a designer of stained glass windows, church altars and memorials, a painter of murals and an art teacher. — Tami Allen

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A mural painter, sculptor, designer of stained glass windows and art educator, Joseph Goss Cowell was born on December 4, 1886 in Peoria, Illinois, where his father worked as an interior decorator. He grew up in Peoria and attended Bradley College from 1908 to 1909, the University of Illinois from 1907-1908, the Art Students League of New York from 1908-1909, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston from 1909-1912, the County Council School of Arts and Crafts in London from 1914-

Death: 1968 (Massachusetts)

Lived/Active: Illinois/Massachusetts

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Often Known For:
marine, structure, graphics, mural painting and sculpture, art education