John P. Cowan: A Texas treasure

Born in Bristol, Tennessee in 1920, Artist John "Jack" Cowan studied art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where Norman Rockwell was one of his instructors. Cowan, a Tennessee native, wound up in Texas during World War II. He worked as an illustrator for an Air Force publication in Houston, became infatuated with the local fishing and hunting scene and returned to Houston in 1949. Two important collections of his art work, The Golden Crescent and John P. Cowan: A Texas Treasure were originally published in 1969 and 1992.