About the artist:

John Hartell (1902-1995) was an American artist of first the Impressionist and later the Modern styles. Hartell sought to bring art into the lives of both Cornell students and faculty, including by organizing an art exhibit in the Willard Straight Memorial featuring hundreds of works. In 1936, he illustrated “Over in the Meadow; an old Nursery Rhyme.” During that period, he was commissioned to design a number of residences. He also partnered with a New York architect on buildings for the World's Fair of 1939. Cornell asked Hartell to serve on the Committee for Fine Arts in 1941. He remained active with his undergraduate literary pursuits, writing for the last Cornell Widow for 1942. The alumni writing effort was conceived of by Widow editor Knox B. Burger, son of Hartell’s fraternity brother and fellow Irving Literary Society member Carl B. Burger. Hartell was considered to be a mature artist after the Second World War, being featured at the Kraushaar Galleries in New York City, following in the tradition of his fraternity brother Reynolds Beal, who was also exhibited there as early as 1929. After his retirement from teaching in 1968, Hartell painted full time. Much of his imagery came from the lakes and woods of upstate New York, where he lived, and from the eastern Long Island he knew as a boy.