Donald Cowen (1920 – 1987) was an Australian-American artist, sculptor and scientific illustrator, whose work is featured in buildings and galleries in Australia and the United States.

Early life

Donald Ross Cowen was born July 28, 1920[1] in Redcliffe, Queensland, the son of Errol Cowen and his wife Eileen Ross Brown.[2] He studied art at the Brisbane Central Technical College (now QUT)[3] instructed by Melville Haysom and won entrance to the School of the National Art Gallery of Victoria.

Military service

Cowen enlisted in the Australian Army during WW2 and was discharged in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant. He participated in the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme offered to ex servicemen after the war, to continue his art studies.[4]

In 1950, Cowen and another ex-servicemen artist Quentin Hole undertook a road tour of Queensland,[5] exhibiting their art in towns such as Maryborough, Bundaberg, Mackay, Townsville, Proserpine. They returned to Brisbane where their work was displayed at the Johnstone Gallery.[6] In 1951, Cowen and Hole were commissioned to create two murals featuring palaeontological history for the University of Queensland’s Geology Museum on the new campus at St Lucia, Queensland.[7][8][9] Cowen travelled to London and Paris to continue his studies in the early 1950s[10] and used this experience to design sets for the Twelfth Night Theatre’s production of the Mad Woman of Chaillot in 1952.[11] His work was exhibited at the Macquarie Galleries Show of Sixes in 1954.[12]

Move to the United States

In 1959, Cowen moved to Tucson, Arizona with his father, after the death of his mother in 1957.[13] Don Cowen exhibited his art in Tucson and Phoenix.[14] He became a naturalised citizen of the United States and took up work as a staff scientific illustrator for the College of Optical Sciences in 1965.[15][16] He continued to experiment in different media and his sculpture Light Moment was installed in the foyer of the University of Arizona, Tucson’s College of Optical Sciences.[17] It features pyrex glass from the Corning Glass Works factory of New York. Cowen was commissioned to prepare the 9 foot x 17 foot mural, Man and the Universe which hangs in the Tucson Convention Center. His painting Archimedes and the Battle of Syracuse[18] was commissioned by Professor Aiden Meinel and hangs in the Albert B. Weaver Sciences-Engineering Library at the University of Arizona.

Cowen retired in 1983 and continued working on his art as well as teaching. He died in Tucson, Arizona on April 1, 1987.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "Don Cowen". Design and Art Australia Online. 2011.
  2. ↑ "Gossip from Sydney". Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947). 1919-08-02. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  3. ↑ "Students' art on exhibition". Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). 1949-12-02. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  4. ↑ "Two-man Art Show Has High Merit". Maryborough Chronicle (Qld. : 1947 - 1954). 1950-04-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  5. ↑ "ART SHOW". Proserpine Guardian (Qld. : 1935 - 1954). 1950-06-09. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  6. ↑ "Cowen oils on show". Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954). 1953-02-16. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  7. ↑ "University has unique mural of primeval times". Brisbane Telegraph (Qld. : 1948 - 1954). 1951-12-01. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  8. ↑ "reCollections - The King of the Sea and other stories of prehistoric life at the University of Queensland". recollections.nma.gov.au. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  9. ↑ "Mural designs for Geology Museum, Richards Building, University of Queensland - Fryer Manuscripts". manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  10. ↑ "ITS GOODBYE FOR 18 MONTHS". Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954). 1953-02-05. p. 1. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  11. ↑ "In Town and Out". Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954). 1952-03-02. p. 35. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  12. ↑ "Show Of "Sixes"". Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954). 1954-01-27. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  13. ↑ "Damian-Hall-Az - User Trees - Genealogy.com". www.genealogy.com. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  14. ↑ Regan, Margaret. "Looking Back". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  15. ↑ "Historical Lens: Donald (Don) R. Cowen (1921-1987) | College of Optical Sciences | The University of Arizona". www.optics.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  16. ↑ Yellott, John I. (August 1975). "Solar energy in Arizona - some historical notes". Arizona Highways: 9.
  17. ↑ "Untitled - U of A College of Optical Sciences. - Tucson, Arizona - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com". www.waymarking.com. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  18. ↑ "Mirror Work by Ander Monson - BOMB Magazine". bombmagazine.org. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
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