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Lowell Houser (1902 - 1971)
Born in Chicago, IL on May 18, 1902, Lowell D. Houser moved to Iowa in 1909. Upon graduation from Ames High School in 1921, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 1923 he made a trip to Mexico with artist Everett Gee Jackson to study with Jean Charlot. Involved in the short-lived Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), Houser worked under Grant Wood on nine murals for the new library at Iowa State College. The coalescence of Houser's Mayan studies and his government program work came with his Ames, Iowa Post Office mural in 1936, depicting American and Mayan corn agriculture, and the Art Deco-style (former) Bankers Life Building at 711 High Street in Des Moines (poetic glass friezes honoring Native American Indians).
Houser became a member of the faculty at Iowa State College in 1937 until 1938 when he moved to San Diego, CA to teach at the San Diego State College. Houser's work is cited by Jean Charlot in "Murals for Tomorrow" (1945) as being among the best in the country.
Ill health forced his retirement in 1957; he then moved to the family plantation at Fredericksburg, VA where he remained until his demise on Jan. 3, 1971.
Exhibition:
AIC, 1927, 1931; Des Moines Public Library, 1929; MM, 1930; Whitney Museum, 1936; CGA, 1936; NY World's Fair, 1939. In: San Diego Historical Society; Ames Post Office (mural).
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
Ferdinand Perret Files; Who's Who in American Art 1938-40
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