Martha Elizabeth Colwell was born in Bronson, Michigan, on May 24, 1881, according to Who Was Who in American Art (1985). Her full name was found in the census records at Ancestry.com. Art of Today: Chicago 1933 (1932) said she was born near Bronson. The 1880 U.S. Federal Census recorded Colwell’s parents, Elisha and Nancy, and siblings, Frederic, Albert, Fernando, William and Laura. They lived on a farm in Burr Oak, about 6 miles / 9.7 kilometers west of Bronson.
Information regarding Colwell’s childhood and education has not been found. According to the 1940 census, Colwell completed her fourth year of high school, presumably in Michigan.
Apparently after finishing high school, Colwell moved to Chicago to pursue her art training. The American Art Annual, Volume X (1913) said she was a pupil of John Vanderpoel and Bror Julius Olson Nordfeldt, both instructors at the Chicago Art Institute. The Art Institute’s Circular of Instruction of the School of Drawing, Painting, Modelling, Decorative Designing and Architecture, 1902–1903, listed Colwell in the Department of Painting and Drawing’s Life Class for 1901 to 1902.
In 1899 she met Thomas Wood Stevens (1880–1942) who would become an artist, teacher, author, and theater director. Chicago History, Fall and Winter 1982, said: “Early in 1899, Fred Langworthy, Tom Stevens, and Alden Noble, all students at the new Armour Institute at 33rd and Federal streets, began setting up printing equipment and type in the basement of Stevens’s apartment…” Their Blue Sky Press printed limited edition books and a literary journal, The Blue Sky.
Colwell contributed to The Blue Sky. Her poems, “A Picture” and “Returns” appeared in the October and November 1899 issues. A bound volume of the 1899 issues of The Blue Sky can be viewed here. Unfortunately, most of October and all of the November issues are missing. The January 1900 issue published Colwell’s ”Poster Gossip: A Fantasy” (below) which was illustrated by her, Edward Penfield (page 19) and Frank Hasenplug (page 20). The following month saw of her two triolets, “In Church” and “Shy Company,” in print. Most of that issue is missing in the volume. Her “Sonnet” (below) was published in June 1900.
The Bachelor Book
March 1900
Below: The Blue Sky advertisement with names of the contributors
A notable contributor to The Blue Sky was Ralph Fletcher Seymour whose cover design was used and reused on the April, May and June 1900 issues. Seymour was profiled in Caxtonian, May 2011. Seymour was an inspiration to Colwell. There was no mention that he had an assistant or apprentice. Seymour taught decorative illustration at the School of the Art Institute where he was on staff from 1907 to 1918.
Another prominent Chicago lettering artist was Frederic W. Goudy, who taught lettering and ornament at Frank Holme’s School of Illustration. Goudy joined the school October 1, 1899. (A concise chronology of the School of Illustration was published in The Inland Printer, December 1899.) There is the possibility she was a student of Goudy, although in D.J.R. Bruckner’s book, Frederic Goudy (1990), there was no mention of Colwell, Seymour, Stevens or the Blue Sky Press. Colwell’s studying of lettering and ornament around this time fills a gap for part of 1899 and 1900, and would account for her entry into the commercial field in late 1902.
Colwell has not been found in the 1900 census. Her father was recorded in the census which said he was married but lived alone in Prairieville, Michigan. He passed away January 3, 1907.
As mentioned earlier, Colwell was student at Art Institute. The Catalogue of Students, 1901–1902 section had this address for her, 7343 Langley Avenue. In the Chicago Tribune, January 26, 1902, article, “Art Institute Students Publish a Magazine”, Colwell was identified as the associate editor of The Sketch Book, which was to debut February first.
So far, the earliest mention of Colwell, as a commercial artust, was found in Ad Sense, December 1902. James Howard Kehler operated an advertising company. (Two photographs of his office are here.) He ran a full-page advertisement about his new company, The Varied Industries. At the bottom was Kehler’s name in the middle and flanked by eight associates. On the left were Walter Whitehead (illustrator), Walter F. Holler, S.J. Kennedy (illustrator), and Oscar Lovell Triggs (writer). On the right were Thomas Hyde Warren (manager), M. E. Colwell (yellow highlight), Frederick Fursman (illustrator), and Addison Blakely (lawyer). Below is a screen-shot of a snippet of the advertisement. The text of the Varied Industries advertisement was excerpted in The American Printer, June 1903.
How and when Colwell met Kehler is not known.
One of Kehler’s clients was the furniture manufacturer, W.K. Cowan & Company. When their relationship began is not known. A Cowan advertisement by Kehler’s agency was reproduced in Advertising Experience, December 1901.
At some point Kehler and Colwell relocated to the Fine Arts Building where Cowan was located.
The American Printer
July 1903
Below: “The Printer’s Imprint”...the cover, title page and decorations designed by M. Elizabeth Colwell...
The American Printer
Below: The W.K. Cowan & Co. advertisement, in the upper left-hand corner, handlettered by Colwell
January 1904
Below: W.K. Cowan & Company advertisement handlettered by Colwell
1904 Chicago Business Directory
Artists Category
Miss M. Elizabeth Colwell
...The Sketch Book was founded about two years ago by Mrs. Will Herrick and Miss Elizabeth Colwell, then students of the Institute....
The House Beautiful
Below: Six W.K. Cowan & Co. advertisements, handlettered by Colwell, published from June to November 1904.
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The Sketch Book
October 1904
The New York Dramatic Mirror
October 22, 1904
The debut of The Rose Jar with a cover by Colwell.
The Sketch Book
November 1904
Above: designs reproduced in The Sketch Book, November 1904
The Furniture Journal
November 25, 1904
Below: At the top of the advertisement, the company banner and address may have been handlettered by Colwell.
The Furniture Journal
December 1904
Below: Unsigned cover by Colwell. The same lettering style was used on a W.K. Cowan & Company announcement card reprinted in The Printing Art, May 1905 (scroll down).
The Book-keeper and Business Man’s Magazine
December 1904
Kehler’s profile of W.K. Cowan included a brochure page (below) handlettered by Colwell, whose name is in the lower right-hand corner.
203–207 Michigan Boulevard
Colwell, M. Elizabeth, s. m. designing and lettering. Exhibited at Chicago Art Inst.; has hand-lettered and decorated Burial of Romeo and Juliet, by Richard Le Gallienne, etc. Studio, 820 Fine Arts Bldg., Chicago Ill.
The Sketch Book
March 1905
upper left book plate by Colwell
The Printing Art
May 1905
Below: W.K. Cowan & Company advertisement handlettered by Colwell; the lowercase g is identical to the ones on the cover of The Furniture Journal, December 1904; comparison of details of the cover and card.
Detail of the Furniture Journal cover (top) and W.K. Cowan announcement card (bottom).
June 1905
Below: W.K. Cowan & Company advertisement handlettered by Colwell
July 1905
Below: Handlettering by Colwell
The Sketch Book
July 1905
Advertisement for The Artists Year Book with cover lettering by Colwell
August 1905
Below: Handlettering by Colwell
The Inland Printer Company, 1906
Below: three samples by Colwell
1907 Chicago City Directory
203–207 Michigan Boulevard
Elizabeth M. Colwell, 820, H[arrison] 4448
Colwell was a member of the Boston Society of Arts & Crafts and listed in the annual reports for 1907 and 1908. Will Bradley and Dwiggins were members, too.
March 1907
Below: Teco Portfolio advertisement
...Ten pages of type, on Alpine enamel book paper, in brown on one side only. Head-pieces, initial and tail-pieces drawn by Elizabeth Colwell....
Below: W.K. Cowan & Co. advertisement handlettered by Colwell
February 1908
Below: “Modern Hand-lettered Books”
July 1908
Water Color Exhibition Sales
The birch tree (Color Print), Elizabeth Colwell...10.00
Sparrows (Color Print), 6 replicas, Elizabeth Colwell...12.00
1909 Chicago Central Business and Office Building Directory
203–207 Michigan Boulevard
Colwell Elizabeth M artist H5849 1020
Cowan W K & Co furniture H2076 203 Michigan av
Kehler-Crosby Chicago Advertising H3604 637
Seymour Ralph F pub H5484 1010
Catalogue of the Twenty-first Annual Exhibition of Water-Colors,
Pastels and Miniatures by American Artists
The Art Institute of Chicago
May 11 to June 13, 1909
February 1909
Below: Advertisements handlettered by Colwell
June 1909
Below: Advertisements handlettered by Colwell
October 1909
Below: W.K. Cowan & Company advertisements handlettered by Colwell
comment by F.J. Trezise:
...Hand-lettering is coming more and more into use in the designing of advertisements. This not only applies to magazine advertisements, but to those used in the daily papers. In fact, some firms have nearly all their advertisements lettered instead of set in type. The lettering has, of course, an individuality which makes it conspicuous among the more commonplace typework, especially where decorative design appropriate to the subject is used in conjunction with the lettering. In Fig. 3 is shown an advertisement of this character—one which is thoroughly appropriate in lettering and decoration, and which would “stand out” prominently on any page. This combining of appropriate decoration with hand-lettering is easily possible to the printer who studies the latter, as it is but a step from lettering to the drawing of simple appropriate decorative designs...
comment by F.J. Trezise:
…One should not overlook the value of white space in the designing of advertisements. Where the advertiser pays a high rate for space he naturally feels that he can ill afford to “waste” any of it by leaving it white. This, however, is often a mistake. Where an advertisement contains little reading matter and is surrounded by other advertisements, one will gain much more prominence for it by reducing the size of the lettering a trifle and leaving a generous margin of white to separate it from the other advertisements and “bring it out.” An illustration of this is shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Fig. 7 shows a hand-lettered advertisement taken from a daily paper. Although there were but few words in the advertisement, a large letter has been used and the space entirely filled, the lines running close to the edges, and the advertisement being surrounded by other display advertisements, the whole effect is rather confusing. Fig. 8 shows the same advertisement with the lettering reduced a trifle and set in the space with liberal margins. This cuts it off more completely from the other display on the page, and it is more readily grasped by the eye. A plainer line would have been more readible, and, for that reason, we think better advertising. An exceptionally free-italic letter, such as the one here used, is too much akin to the script form to make an easily read line in all capitals.
The International Studio
November 1909
Below: W.K. Cowan & Company advertisement with headlines handlettered by Colwell
Frederic Fairchild Sherman, 1909
Written and handlettered by Elizabeth Colwell
1910 Chicago Central Business and Office Building Directory
203–207 Michigan Boulevard
Elizabeth M. Colwell, 1025, H[arrison] 5849
M.E. Colwell, 1025, H[arrison] 5849
American Art Annual
Colwell, Elizabeth, 1020 Fine Arts Bldg., Chicago, Ill. (W.A.A.)
McClure’s Magazine
January 1910
Below: W.K. Cowan & Company advertisement with headline handlettered by Colwell
Below: W.K. Cowan & Company advertisement with headline handlettered by Colwell
THIRTEENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES
(enumerated April 18, 1910, Chicago, Illinois)
Elizabeth Colwell lived at 1373 East 57th Street. Her occupation was designer at a studio. Musician Beatrice Butler was a roommate.
Catalogue of the Ninth Annual Exhibition of Original Designs for Decorations and Examples of Art Crafts Having Distinct Artistic Merit
The Art Institute of Chicago
December 6–23, 1910
January 1911
Special Exhibition Catalogue
1912, Number 6
The City Art Museum of St. Louis
Colwell, Elizabeth, 1373 East 57th St, Chicago, Ill.I., Etcher, C.—Born in Michigan, May 24, 1881. Pupil of Vanderpoel and Olson-Nordfeldt in Chicago.
Thomas Wood Stevens
Chicago Society of Etchers, 1913
Elizabeth Colwell....1373 E. 57th St., Chicago
The Graphic Arts
March 1913
“The Work of Elizabeth Colwell”
November 1914
On the Making of Wood-block Prints advertisement
Muskegon Chronicle
(Michigan)
May 8, 1915
“Interesting Exhibition of Etchings Open to Public at Art Gallery Tomorrow”A most interesting exhibition is now being shown in the north and west galleries of Hackley Art gallery. This is the collection of 131 etchings sent out to all of the principal galleries of the country by the Chicago Society of Etchers. A great many of the prominent etchers of the country are represented in the collection....…Elizabeth Colwell has some portrait sketches of old men.
The New York Times
“Awards at the Panama-Pacific Exposition”
Rose Virginia Stewart Berry
W.N. Brunt, 1915
Bronze Medals — Clifford T. Adams, George C Aid, Antonio Barone, Benjamin Brown, M. Elizabeth Colwell...
The American Institute of Graphic Arts
November 3rd to 13th, 1915
Elizabeth Colwell
48 Three Elms by Lake
49 Birch Tree
50 Lake in Winter
51 Old Willows
52 Cornwall Coast
53 Valley in Wales
Colwell, Elizabeth, 1373 East 57th St, Chicago, Ill.I. Etcher, C—Born in Michigan, May 24, 1881. Pupil of Vanderpoel and Olson-Nordfeldt in Chicago. Member: Chicago SE; N.Y. SE. Award: Hon. P.-P. Exp., San F. 1915.
The American Printer
The Art Institute of Chicago, 1915
Colwell, Elizabeth, 1373 East 57th St.
January 1916
March 1916
American Art Annual
Colwell, Elizabeth, 1373 East 57th St, Chicago, Ill. B.S.A.C.
American Type Founders
1916
Prang Company, 1916
Below: Alphabet by Colwell
Springfield Republican
(Massachusetts)
March 2, 1916
“Water-Color Show”Annual Exhibition of the American SocietyAt the National Arts club in New York is the 49th annual exhibition of the American water-color society, which has been called a winter academy in spirit and character....…and a group of bathers in water by Elizabeth Colwell gives a welcome touch of intensity and depth of color in the midst of much that is insipid.
Catalogue of the Fourteenth Annual Philadelphia Water Color Exhibition, and the Fifteenth Annual Exhibition of Miniatures
November 5 to December 10, 1916
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Elizabeth Colwell.
696 A Woman at the Window (Etching).
American Art Annual
1917
Colwell, Elizabeth, 1373 East 57th St, Chicago, Ill.I. Etcher, C—Born in Michigan, May 24, 1881. Pupil of Vanderpoel and Olson-Nordfeldt in Chicago. Member: Chicago SE; N.Y. SE. Award: Hon. P.-P. Exp., San F. 1915.
November 1918
“Some American Woodcuts Designed and Executed by Elizabeth Colwell”
Bulletin of the Chicago Art Institute
May 1919
Chicago Society of Etchers
El Palacio
Journal of the Museum of New Mexico, the School of American Research, the Archaeological Society of New Mexico and Santa Fe Society of the Archaeological Institute
June 14, 1919
FOURTEENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES
(enumerated July 14, 1920, Chicago, Illinois)
Miss Martha E. Colwell was an artist who resided and worked at 1373 East 57th Street. Her mother, Nancy J. Keller, who remarried in 1911, lived with her.
December 1920
...The dean of the American wood block artists is Arthur W. Dow, now an instructor at Columbia University, who began work in this medium twenty-five years ago. The prints of John J.A. Murphy, Winold Reiss, William Zorach, Hall Thorpe, R. Ruzicka, Gustave Baumann, Horace Brodsky, Tod Lindenmuth, Paul Rohland and Harry Townsend are well known. The women have done just as good work as the men, and among them are Margaret Patterson, Ethel Mars, Maud Squire, Bertha Lum, Juliette S. Nichols, Edna Bois Hopkins, Daphne Dunbar, Eleanor Schorer, Marguerite Zorach, Elizabeth Colwell, Mildred Fritz, Eliza D. Gardiner, Ada Gilmore, Florence Iyrins, Ilonka Karasz, Mildred McMillen, Flora Schoenfeld and Elizabeth Schuff Taylor.
Art & Decoration
August 1921
“A Revival of Interest in the Wood-cut”
Graphic Arts Company, 1924
Colwell Handlettering, pages 86-87
This derives its name from the distinctive lettering of Elizabeth Colwell, Chicago, for display and handletter pages in which she has been particularly successful.Without being eccentric, it has an individuality expressive of the designer’s facility in lettering.It is a useful type in many forms of announcement and display printing. The smaller sizes of the lower case make an extended line, but they give quality to pamphlets and book pages. These types also harmonize well with pen-and-ink illustrations which are an outline or a medium weight of line.
An Anthology of Verse from Masses-Liberator
Genevieve Taggard
Boni & Liveright, 1925
“I Wonder” by Colwell
Chicago Tribune
(Illinois)
November 29, 1925
Part 9, page 7, column 4: The Chicago Woman’s Aid is holding an exhibition of paintings and pastels by Elizabeth Colwell in the clubrooms, 717 Kimball building.
Hyde Park Herald
(Chicago, Illinois)
April 16, 1926
“Art Exhibition at the Windermere”There will be an exhibition of paintings and sculpturing by the artists of the 57th st. Colony at the Windermere-East from april 15 to May 1. The artists exhibiting are Emil Armin, Roffe Beman, Alice Bidwell, Charles Biesel, Fred Biesel, Elizabeth Colwell, Rose Grossman, Beatrice Levy, George Rich, Felix Russman, Walter Sargent, Frances Strain, and Eve Watson Schutz. The exhibition is open to the public.
Hyde Park Herald
April 23, 1926
“Fine Art Exhibition by Hyde Park Artists”An attractive exhibition of oils and water colors is being made by Hotel Windermere-East, and art critics and art lovers have been greatly interested in the display.The exhibiting artists are: Emil Armin, Fred Biesel, Frances Strain, Eva Watson Schuetze, Elizabeth Colwell, Beatrice Levy, Walter Sargent, George Rich, Roffe Beman, Alice Bidwell, Charles Biesel, Rose Crossman, and Felix Russman....All the artists exhibiting are members of the Hyde Park colony.
Rockford Daily Republic
(Illinois)
January 15, 1927
Vigilantes Ban Nudes at ExhibitMarshall Field galleries...…Mr. Biesel had no desire to suffer for other people’s art. He took down six pictures, which portrayed seven nude figures.The paintings removed were: ...Two Nudes, a canvas by Miss Elizabeth Colwell of Chicago....
The Chinese Students’ Monthly
April 1928
“Loneliest Hearts”
The wide world is filled with the sad, shattered parts
Of loves disunited, that cry in the night,
And search with the wind for loneliest hearts
In similar plight.
In tall, rustling grasses their voices are heard,
They sigh and search vainly among the green leaves.
And just before dark falls, one single bird
For all of them grieves.
The wind’s wail is theirs on every bare height.
They sound in the sea’s reiterant surge.
In the deep, silent hours of a cold, star-lit night
I hear their sad dirge.
Hyde Park Herald
October 19, 1928
“Dr. Clara Sterling Holds Etchers’ Exhibit in Home”More than 100 etchings by Chicago and other artists will be exhibited from Oct. 22 to Nov. 4, at the residence of Dr. Clara Sterling, 1021 E. 62nd st…....Included in the list of exhibiting artists are Beatrice Levy, 5724 Blackstone ave., and Elizabeth Colwell, 1373 E. 57th st.
Hyde Park Herald
November 16, 1928
“Hyde Parkers Are Directors for No-Jury Artist Society”
Nov. 25 to Dec. 10 are the dates of the seventh annual exhibition of the Chicago No-Jury Society of Artists at 210 N. Michigan ave. Local directors of this society include Macena Barton; C. Biesel; Fred Biesel, 1544 E. 59th st.; Elizabeth Colwell, 1373 E. 57th st.; F. P. Tud Kempf; Beatrice Levy, 5724 Blackstone ave.; Felix Russman; Frances Strain, and Eva Watson Schutze.
Rockford Daily Register-Gazette
(Illinois)
February 2, 1929
April 1929
“Art Exhibit in Members’ Room”…exhibition by members of the Chicago Society of Artists. There are thirty-nine paintings and one bronze piece selected by the directors of the artists’ society…Elizabeth Colwell, Nude in Settee — (Dry Point)
FIFTEENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES
(enumerated April 14, 1930, Chicago, Illinois)
The Official Who’s Who Among the Women of the Nation, Volume 3
Colwell, Elizabeth, artist, poet; b. Mich., May 24, 1881; d. Elisha Hadley and Nancy Jane (Friesner) Colwell. Edn. attended Chicago Art Inst. Pres. occ. Artist, Federal Art Project; Painter (oils and water colors); Etcher; Worker in Wood and Linoleum; Poet. Church: Unitarian. Politics: Democrat. Hobby: poetry. Fav. rec. or sport: Golf. Author: Trystam and Ysolde; Songs and Sonnets (both books of verse, limited editions, written and hand-lettered by the author). Designer of Colwell Hand Letter type. Address: 5702 Kimbark Ave., Chicago, Ill.
Who’s Who in American Art
Volume 1
R.R. Bowker, 1935
biographical information
Register-Republic
(Illinois)
November 16, 1936
“Chicago Artists’ Work Is Shown in a Lively Exhibit Here”...Chicago Society of Artists show, an exhibition of more than a hundred oil canvases circulated by the American Federation of Arts, a national organization for the cultivation of the arts, with headquarters in Washington, D.C…....There are several other figure paintings, too—…Elizabeth Colwell’s “Blue Madonna”...
Lettering: Its History, Principles & Practice
Charles Matlack Price
Art Education, 1937
(caption) A handlettered book page with decorative initial, typical of the work of Elizabeth Colwell, who is also the designer of a type called Colwell Handletter.
SIXTEENTH CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES
(enumerated April 11, 1940, Chicago, Illinois)
Elizabeth Colwell’s occupation was WPA artist doing “easel project at home”. She and her 87-year old mother resided at 5702 Kimbark Avenue. The census said Colwell completed her fourth year of high school and did not attend college.
Hyde Park Herald
December 7, 1944
“Art for the Home Christmas Exhibition”Lenabel F. Pokrass Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts, 5533 Hyde Park blvd., announces the opening of a special Christmas exhibition of “Art for the Home,”….The exhibition includes oils, watercolors and etchings by 25 outstanding Chicago artists. Exhibiting artists are: …Elizabeth Colwell…
According to the Illinois Death Index at Ancestry.com, Colwell’s mother passed away April 27, 1946, in Chicago.
Many sources cite 1954 as the year of Colwell’s passing but none of them state the place of her death. Her obituary or death notice have not been mentioned.
Additional References
Antique, Modern & Swash: A Brief History of Women in Printing
Club of Printing Women of New York, 1955
...Al Hattal of Bookbinding and Book Production stated that in an article published by them, mention was made of a designer, Elizabeth Colwell, who designed Colwell Handletter and Colwell Handletter Italic in 1916. American Type Founders, who manufactured this type face, reports it is no longer cast and is now obsolete.
Arthurian Literature by Women
Alan Lupack and Barabra T. Lupack
Routledge, 2013
Chicago Artists’ Archive
University of Massachusetts Press, 2009
Dennis P. Doordan, Editor
MIT Press, 1995
Japonisme Comes to America: The Japanese Impact on the Graphic Arts 1876–1925
Julia Meech, Julia Meech-Pekarik, Gabriel P. Weisberg
H.N. Abrams in association with the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 1990
Ellen Mazur Thomson
Yale University Press, 1997
...Another Chicagoan, Elizabeth Colwell (b. 1881), designed department store advertisements and illustrated books that featured generous amounts of lettering. Colwell’s Handletter (1916) and Colwell’s Handletter Italic (1916), the two typefaces she designed for the American Type Founders, were based on her own hand lettering.
(Updated November 26, 2020; next post on Monday: Marty Epp)
January 1931
February 1931
March 1931
April 1931
June 1931
The San Franciscan, March 1930
Stanford University, 1925
