Painter-sculptor James Cady Ewell was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 28, 1889. He exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1917-1925. His paintings were recognizably figurative, but influenced by modernism and the Art Deco style. He also designed bookplates, some of which are in the William Augustus Brewer Bookplate Collection of the University of Delaware, Newark. His 1926 granite War Memorial, in Memorial Park, Highland Park, Illinois, is dedicated to soldiers of World War I, and to hopes for peace.

In a foray into the world of commercial design, Ewell was hired in the latter 1920s by Kenneth Parker of the Parker Pen Company, to design their $100 desk set, and later to work out the details...