Bidspirit auction | Wells Moses Sawyer (1863 -

Wells Moses Sawyer (1863 - 1961) American - Wells Moses Sawyer (1863 - 1961) Watercolor on Paper, Signed & Titled ”The New And Tthe Old Miles” , Measures (11 x 9 inches) w/frame (19.5 x 16 inches) Wells Sawyer was born in Iowa, the son of Moses C. Sawyer (b. 1838) and Helen Sawyer (b. 1838). His father became a well-to-do merchant, and by 1870 had moved his young family to Keithsburg, located in Mercer County, Illinois. Later the family returned to Iowa to live in Keokuk, the town which Sawyer would always associate with his childhood. Young Sawyer studied with a number of important artists, including John O. Anderson, Howard Helmick (1845-1907), and John H. Vanderpoel (1857-1911). By 1884 he had set himself up as an artist in his native Iowa, advertising in the Iowa Gazetteer and Business Directory that year. In the 1890's, with his career beginning to take off, he began work for the Federal Government as an illustrator with the United States Geological Survey and later with the Bureau of American Ethnology. Condition: Good Condition