Orson Lowell was born in Wyoming, Iowa but moved to Chicago at the age of 11. His father was Milton H. Lowell, a landscape artist. After receiving an education at the Art Institute of Chicago under the direction of J.H. Vanderpoel and Oliver Dennett Grover, Lowell moved to New York City in 1893. There, he worked as an illustrator for a number of magazines including American Girl, Century, Cosmopolitan, Judge, The Deliniator, Ladies Home Journal, McCall's, McClure's, Puck, Leslie's Weekly, Metropolitan Life, The Saturday Evening Post, Scribner's, Vogue, Redbook, and the Women's Home Companion.
By 1906 Lowell had bought a house in New Rochelle and was part of the artist colony there. He was also an active memeber of several societies and charitable organizations such as the Society of Illustrators and the New Rochelle Art Association.
