John Edward Phelps

John Edward Phelps (1907-2002) the artist was born in Keene, New Hampshire. Moving to Ludlow and then to Bernardston, MA, he graduated from Powers Institute before attending the Massachusetts School of Art (now Massachusetts College of Art), and was part of the class of 1931.
A sickly child, he was drawn to drawing as a young boy, perhaps influenced by his great-uncle William Preston Phelps, (1848-1923) who was renown as an artist.
Graduating in the midst of the Great Depression, he found work with fellow graduate Roger Wolcott on a Federal Arts Project commission to paint murals in the Springfield Museum of Natural History. During this period, he maintained a studio on Main Street, which overlooks Court Square.
Drafted in 1941, he hurriedly married his sweetheart, Gladys True & took out for boot camp. Serving honorably in France, Luxemburg and Germany, John earned the Bronze Star for bravery under fire, in the Battle of the Bulge.
Returning from war, he established a studio in Greenfield. It was here that he started teaching to subsidize his art. He soon found a love for teaching, but in 1950, he took a job at the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum in Springfield, MA, and bought a house in the Pine Point section, as they were expecting their third child. Although he only stayed on staff for two years, he taught classes there from 1951 until his retirement in 1970. He also taught at Holyoke Art League.
In his career, he brought Continuous-Line drawings back into style, this being one of his most prominent drawing styles.
In 1961 he took a position at the Holyoke Museum as Staff Artist, building dioramas of early Holyoke, which now reside at the Holyoke Children’s Museum.
In 1960 he took the commission to restore the mural at the Museum of Natural History, and also has done murals for private individuals. In addition, he did painting restoration for the Museum of Fine Arts as well as for private collectors.
In 1992, a book was published detailing his painting of the mural at Museum of Natural History, and also other mural painters, “The Forgotten Mural Painters of Springfield 1933-1938”. He also put on an art show at Western New England College, presenting his work.
The last dated work of his is from 1993. In 2000, he left his home in Springfield, MA to live in a home adjacent to his son's. He died in 2002.
In 2009, an art show was put up in honor of his 102nd birthday, and his art was displayed publicly

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