M. Louise Stowell

Poster by M. Louise Stowell, also published in Les Maîtres de l'Affiche

M. Louise Stowell, a Rochester, NY-based Arts & Crafts artist was born on June 16, 1861, in Hornell, NY, to Thomas Stowell (1819–1896)—a fire insurance adjuster and special agent for Aetna—and Henrietta Fowler (1820–1902). They moved to Rochester, NY in 1884.

The Garden of The Hesperides, M. Louise Stowell, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

M. Louise Stowell worked as a faculty member at the Rochester Mechanics Institute, known now as the Rochester Institute of Technology. From 1890 to 1892, she taught courses on drawing, composition, and "Saturday Classes".

From there, she moved to Massachusetts to study with Arthur Wesley Dow. “In October 1903… The Craftsman… published an article by Stowell entitled, “Japanese Prints and Some of Their Makers,” a comprehensive discussion of the aesthetics and techniques of Japanese art in which Stowell observed: “This art displays a respect for organic form, while not hesitating to sacrifice this for higher qualities of gracious line, well-disposed space and beautiful color which may be in separate patches and at variance with Occidental notions of veracity….”

Stowell then went on to further her studies of art at The Art Student League (before 1895), an art institute that was founded in 1875 in New York City, and considered to be the "birthplace" of American Art.

Returning to Rochester, she held a studio space in the Powers Building with Ada Howe Kent.

Being known for her watercolors, posters, illustrations, etc., M. Louise Stowell passed on February 8, 1930, and resides in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Rochester, NY.