Margaret Nowell Graham

Margaret Nowell Graham (1867–1942) was an American artist who painted watercolors of flowers and landscapes. She was the mother of two national political figures Katherine G. Howard, Secretary of the Republican Party and advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John Stephens Graham, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.

Margaret Nowell Graham
Born	Margaret Nowell 1867 Lowell, Massachusetts
Died	1942 Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Resting place	Salem Cemetery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 36.091648°N 80.239485°W
Nationality	American
Education	Boston Museum School of Fine Art
Known for	Watercolor painter of flowers and landscapes

Early life

Margaret Nowell was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1867 to Charles Foster Nowell and Anna Marie Chase.[1][2][nb 1] She studied at the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts.[1] She was a member of the Boston Art club and the American Federation of Arts.

Art

Graham made watercolor paintings of landscapes and flowers from Marblehead, Massachusetts and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her specialty was landscape with architectural interest. Her works were recognized in New England and in the South, including first prize in the North Carolina Federation of Women's Club Arts Competitions in 1923, 1924 and 1925. Her paintings are at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts[1] Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Wake Forest University, and in private collections.

She made a watercolor painting in 1922 of the Reynolda House that was used on notecards and sold at the Reynolda House Museum. It also appeared on the cover of the Fall 2002 edition of the Wake Forest Alumni Magazine.[3][4] A 1922 watercolor of the barn appeared on the front page of the Summer 2013 edition of Magnolia magazine, published by the Southern Garden History Society.[5] Graham was a member of the Southern States Art League.[1]

Personal life

Margaret Nowell married Joseph L. Graham, transportation manager for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Their children were:[6]

• Gregory Nowell Graham (1896-1932), who married Geraldine Fleshman[7]
• Katherine Graham (1898–1986), who became the Secretary of the Republican National Committee and Deputy Administrator of the Federal Civil Defense Administration, and married Charles P. Howard (1887–1967) in 1921[8]
• Joseph Lewis Graham, Jr (1903-1905)
• John Stephens Graham (1905–1976), who became the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Harry S. Truman, and married Elizabeth Foster Breckinridge (1901–2005)[9]

She died on March 31, 1942 and is buried at the Salem Cemetery in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.[2][nb 1] In her honor, there was a Margaret Nowell Graham Art Fund for high school students, managed by the Winston-Salem Foundation, and there is a Margaret Nowell Graham Memorial Lecture Fund[11] at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.[12]

Notes

1. The Find a Grave information, a tertiary source that is best to corroborate if there are no gravestone photos, is in synch with the primary source information at the Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates of the North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.[10]

References

1. "Margaret Nowell Graham - Quick Facts". AskArt. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
2. "Margaret Nowell Graham". Find a Grave. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
3. "Reynolda House celebrates art discovered through flowers". The Dispatch. August 22, 1966. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
4. "Wake Forest University Alumni Magazine, Fall 2002" (PDF). Office of Creative Services, Wake Forest University. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
5. "Magnolia Summer 2013" (PDF). Magnolia. Southern Garden History Society. XXVI (3): 1. Spring 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 30, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
6. Katherine G. Howard (1977). With My Shoes Off. New York: Vantage Press. pp. 1–2, 19, 37, 40. ISBN 0533029503.
7. Kreiss, Rich. "Gregory Newell Graham". findagrave.com. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
8. "HOWARD, KATHERINE G.: Papers 1917-1974" (PDF). eisenhower.archives.gov. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER LIBRARY. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
9. "Naval Events, June 1941, Part 2 of 2, Sunday 15th – Monday 30th". Naval History. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
10. Margaret Nowell Graham, North Carolina State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina
11. "Isaac Mizrahi and Iris Apfel in Conversation". Couture Magazine. Franklin TN. 2011. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
12. "Impressionists on the Water". Peabody Essex Museum. Retrieved December 29, 2013. Join Impressionists on the Water co-curator and art historian Christopher Lloyd for a tour of the paintings, works on paper, models and small craft on view. Made possible by The Margaret Nowell Graham Memorial Lecture Fund.

Further reading

• American Art Annual. MacMillan Company. 1931. p. 534.
• Mary de Berniere Graves (1933). Material about North Carolina Artists.
• Peter H. Falk; Audrey M. Lewis (1999). Who was who in American art 1564-1975: 400 years of artists in America. Sound View Press. ISBN 978-0-932087-55-3.
• Mantle Fielding. Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers.
• Marquis Who's Who, LLC (1959). Who's Who in the South and Southwest. Marquis Who's Who. p. 312.