An architect by profession, Phelps Cunningham was active as a printmaker in the 1930s, specializing in meticulously crafted relief prints of the rural Midwest. Born in Humboldt, Kansas, he graduated in 1926 from the University of Kansas with degrees in science and architecture. He traveled to Europe for three months in 1929 just before accepting a position at the architectural firm C. B. Rowley & Associates in Cleveland. In 1930 he began making relief prints and regularly participated in the annual May Shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1930–41). He also contributed prints to annual competitive exhibitions in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and New York City. During World War II, Cunningham served in the government’ s war housing department for three years. His work was included in Painting and Prints by Cleveland Artists, an exhibition held at the Whitney Museum in New York City (1937) and at the New York World’ s Fair (1939). In 1946 he became a partner in the Carr and Cunningham firm. After his retirement in 1967, he worked for Damon-Worley, Cody, and Kirk until 1972. He served as president of the Cleveland Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. As an architect Cunningham is best known for the Saints Helen and Constantine Greek Orthodox Church in Cleveland Heights.
Transformations in Cleveland Art. (CMA, 1996), p. 226