James Scales Watrous (1908-1999) received his bachelor's (1931), master's (1933), and doctoral (1939) degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Watrous joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1935 and remained there until his retirement in 1976 with exception of his service in the Navy during the Second World War. In 1954 he traveled to Italy to participate in a fellowship where he studied visual art with an emphasis on mosaics.
During his time at University of Wisconsin-Madison he served on the board or as president of several art and art history societies and associations. Watrous was a founding member and President of the Midwest Art History Society and was intimately involved in the campaign to establish an art museum on the Madison campus, an effort which resulted in the founding of the Elvehjem museum of art. His publications include "The Craft of Old-Masters Drawings" (1957) and "A Century of American Printmaking" (1980).
Watrous created many pulic works of art around campus including famous murals in the Memorial Union's Paul Bunyan Room, a glass mosaic in Memorial Library, an outdoor mosaic on Vilas Hall, and entryway mosaics in Ingram and Sewell Halls.
