Martha Colwell

Artist Details

• First Name Martha
• Middle Name Elizabeth
• Maiden Name Colwell
• Alternate Name(s) M. Elizabeth Colwell
• Surname Colwell
• Spouse’s Full Name n/a
• Names and Birth Years of Children n/a
• Birth Date 1881
• Birth Place Bronson, Michigan
• Death Date 1954
• Residence(s) 1905: 820 Wabash
  
  1914-1928: 1373 East 57^th St., Chicago, Illinois
  
  1940 census: 5702 Kimbark Avenue (with 87-year old mother)
• Active In Chicago, Illinois
• Studio Location(s) 1904: 203 Michigan Blvd., Chicago, Illinois 1905: 203-207 Michigan Blvd, Chicago, Illinois/820 Fine Arts Bldg. 1909: 1020 Fine Arts Building, Chicago, Illinois
• Categories Etcher, Pastelist, Watercolorist
• Training 1901-1902: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  Student of John Vanderpoel and Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt
  
• Relevant Travel painted in New York, Vermont, Kentucky
• Subject(s) of Art Array
• Exhibitions History May 11-June 13, 1909: Twenty-First Exhibition of Water Colors, Pastels and Miniatures by American Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Peach Blossoms; Lake in Winter; The Great Pine; Harbor Lights
  
  1911: Rome, Italy
  
  January 12-?, 1912: Sixteenth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Western Artists, Detroit Museum of Art, Detroit, Michigan; The Lagoon and The Birch Tree, woodcuts
  
  February 3-March 1, 1914: The Eighteenth Annual Exhibition of Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; The Big Rock, Cornwall Coast; The Sea from Penobscot Lighthouse; The Three Elms by the Lake; Cornwall Coast, England – all prints
  
  March 2-31, 1915: An Exhibition of Etchings, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois [The Chicago Society of Etchers];    Laura; Study of An Old Man; Woman at the Window; The Pig Sty; Old Man with Hands Folded; Lake Leman; Daddy Gleason
  
  1915: Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, California
  
  November 3-13, 1915: An Exhibition of American Wood Engraving, The American Institute of Graphic Arts; Three Elms by Lake; Birch Tree; Lake in Winter; Old Willows; Cornwall Coast; Valley in Wales
  
  1916: Rouillier Art Gallery, Chicago, Illinois [solo]
  
  February 2-?, 1916: American Block Prints and Woodengravings Assembled by Gustave Baumann, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; 11 woodcuts
  
  November 1916: woodblock prints by Gustave Baumann, Elizabeth Colwell and Dean Babcock, Carl J. Smalley, McPherson, Kansas
  
  1916: Annual Exhibition of the American Water Color Society, National Arts Club, New York, New York
  
  November 5-December 10, 1916: Catalogue of the Fourteenth Annual Philadelphia Water Color Exhibition, and the Fifteenth Annual Exhibition of Miniatures, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; A Woman at the Window, etching
  
  1920-1934: Annual Exhibition of Works by Chicago and Vicinity Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Boston Art Club, 1920.
  
  1921: American Wood-block Prints of Today, New York Public Library, New York, New York
  
  Chicago Society of Artists Exhibition
  
  Society of Independent Artists,
  
  1925: exhibit of paintings and pastels, The Chicago Woman’s Aid
  
  1926: The Art Club: First Annual Student Art Exhibition, Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1926: works by artists of the 57^th St. Colony, Hotel Windermere-East, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1928: Vanderhoogt Gallery, [solo]
  
  1928: Woman's World's Fair, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1929: An Exhibition of Etchings, Chicago Society of Etchers; Nude in Settee
  
  1930: An Exhibition of Etchings, Chicago Society of Etchers;
  
  1931: An Exhibition of Etchings, Chicago Society of Etchers;
  
  March 24 – April 15, 1931: Festival of Religious Art: Religious Art by Artists of Chicago and Environs; Blue Madonna
  
  1936: Chicago Society of Artists, Chicago, Illinois; Blue Madonna
  
  July 28-October 9, 1938: Art for the People by Chicago Artists of the Federal Art Project, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Autumn Colors, watercolor; Pyramid of Fruit, etching
  
  1945: Library of Congress Exhibition, Washington, D.C.
  
  Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition, de Young Museum, San Francisco, California; Lake in Winter, circa 1909, woodcut; 8 x 10.5”
  
  Cleveland
  
  Boston
• Collections Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
  
  Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinois
  
  Los Angeles County Art Museum, Los Angeles, California
  
  National Gallery of Canada
  
  Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
  
  Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
• Publications Rouiller, Alice. "The Work of Elizabeth Colwell," The Graphic Arts, March 1913. (This was the first and only time a woman designer was featured in this magazine.).
• Memberships Chicago Society of Artists, Chicago, Illinois
  
  Society of Independent Artists
• Awards 1915: bronze medal, Panama-Pacific Exposition
• Other Occupation(s) 1899: contributed illustrations and poetry to editions of the magazine The Blue Sky
  
  Writer, "The Sketchbook" magazine    -- founded 1904 with Mrs. Will Herrick while students
  
  Designed type face known as "Colwell Hand Letter"
  
  FAP/WPA, 1937: etchings, lithographs paintings, charcoal drawings
  
  worked in advertising in Chicago for such clients as the Marshall Field’s department store and the W.K. Cowan Company furniture store. She was known for her hand-lettered newspaper advertisements
• Website(s) page on The Alphabet Tenth Letter blog website - extensive information on commercial and fine art careers, with images
  
  page on Illinois Historical Art Project website
  
  page on Wikipedia
  
  page on Annex Galleries website
• Biography Parents: Elisha and Nancy Jane Friesner Colwell (?-April 27, 1946); family lived on a farm at Burr Oak, Michigan
  
  1920 census: her mother had remarried in 1911, now Nancy J. Keller; lives with Colwell
  
  Siblings:  Frederic, Albert, Fernando, William, Laura