Artwork of former county, city official headed for Putnam County Museum

Friday, November 23, 2018
On display at the Putnam County Courthouse for about a century, three of the most-known works of Elisha Cowgill are actually of the building’s two predecessors. The first Putnam County Courthouse (top left) must have been painted from the memories of Cowgill or others. Meanwhile, Cowgill painted two perspectives of the second courthouse and would have been intimately familiar with the building, as he served in it as Putnam County clerk, as well as deputy recorder and even practiced law briefly.
Banner Graphic/Jared Jernagan

Ten paintings by a local artist who also served the city and county in various capacities will soon be on display at the Putnam County Museum.

One PCM board member is hopeful she can track down more of his work.

The paintings of Elisha Cowgill have been on display in the Putnam County Courthouse for generations, likely since the early 1900s, though the exact date is uncertain.

Of the 10 known surviving landscapes painted by Putnam County artist Elisha Cowgill, three are together in a cluster in the Putnam County Recorder’s Office, including the old Mount Pleasant Church (left) and two unidentified homes. Ten of Cowgill’s paintings, plus pen and ink sketches and three sketchbooks, will soon be together on display in the Putnam County Museum.
Banner Graphic/Jared Jernagan

This is fitting, considering that Cowgill spent time as the Putnam County Clerk, as a deputy in the recorder’s office and may have also been a county commissioner. The last fact isn’t clear because he shared the first name Elisha with two other Putnam County Cowgills at the time.

Cowgill also briefly practiced law in Putnam County, once even besting his father — noted local jurist John Cowgill — in a court case.

The younger Cowgill (1835-1914) also served as Greencastle mayor and city clerk, though none of his paintings are on display at City Hall.

Despite these dalliances into politics and law (which were apparently successful), Cowgill was primarily known as an artist and made his living as such. He painted portraits, none of which are known to have survived, as well as painting and re-touching stage scenery, as well as painting theater curtains and drops, including most of the work in the old Greencastle Opera House.

He is also known to have been a sign painter.

“He was a portrait painter, that’s how he made his living,” museum board member Gwen Morris told the Banner Graphic. “But I think his family all considered him a landscape artist.”

The challenge Morris has undertaken is to get those landscapes into one place and maybe track down some that have walked away over the years.

Though seven paintings remain on display at the courthouse — three each in the auditor’s and recorder’s offices and one large piece in the third floor lobby — three others known to have been on display in county offices are missing.

“When I started this, I thought the county had only had them about 60 years,” Morris said. “I now think they’ve had them over 100 years.

“The troubling thing is, we keep losing one about every 25 years,” she added.

That’s why she’s hoping to have better accounting of Cowgill’s artwork that remains in captivity.

This includes not only the paintings at the courthouse, but also three paintings plus pen and ink sketches and three sketchbooks in the possession of DePauw University.

“I’d like to see them preserved,” Morris said. “I’d like to see them have a place all together, eventually.”

For now, Morris and the museum will settle for a temporary display of this artwork together. The Putnam County Commissioners recently signed an agreement to loan the paintings to the museum for an 18-month period. DePauw has also agreed to a loan of the artwork in possession of the university.

While the display has no opening date at this time, it will bring together 10 known Cowgill paintings, including:

• Second Putnam County Courthouse (on display in the courthouse third-floor lobby): The largest of the pieces, this painting of the building that stood until 1904 is 72 inches wide by 67 tall.

• Second Putnam County Courthouse from the south (auditor’s office).

• First Putnam County Courthouse (auditor’s office).

• Old Mount Pleasant Church (recorder’s office).

• Unidentified house – Long rumored to have been the Halfway House restaurant in Mt. Meridian, though this is doubtful (recorder’s office).

• Unidentified log house (recorder’s office).

• Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church on National Road (DePauw archives).

• Old Town School House (DePauw archives, on loan from county).

• County Seminary Building (DePauw Archives).

• Untitled landscape rock (Peeler Center).

• Pen and ink sketches (DePauw archives).

• Three sketch books (DePauw archives).

While Morris is happy that these works will soon be in one place, she would love to find out where the three missing courthouse paintings are now. These include one of the former Putnamville Hotel that was on display in the auditor’s office, the headquarters of the Draymen from the clerk’s office and the old Lockridge homestead from the recorder’s office.

It’s not clear how the paintings managed to go missing. Morris said she doesn’t necessarily think they were stolen with ill intent, but that they may have been gifted to courthouse employees over the years.

Regardless, she would love to track down these elusive pieces or any unknown missing paintings, including portraits. The trouble is, Cowgill is not known to have ever signed his work.

However, his work is distinctive, apparently for his fondness for shades of blue as well as a sense of perspective that was “totally missing,” according to his grandson Robert Glenn Happ, who wrote a brief piece on his grandfather years later.

For this reason, Morris believes she could identify another Cowgill if she saw one.

Anyone who believes they might have a Cowgill painting or know its location is encouraged to call the Putnam County Museum at 653-8419.

“I love art,” Morris said, later adding, “I just think it would be a shame to lose any of this heritage.”

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  • I believe the captions under the two sets of pictures are flipped.

    The church is in the bottom set of pictures, and the Court House is in the top set.

    -- Posted by tmgould on Mon, Nov 26, 2018, at 8:36 AM
  • Got it right now! Thanks!

    -- Posted by tmgould on Mon, Nov 26, 2018, at 5:06 PM
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