William B. Rowe

William B. Rowe
Leading member of the Art Institute of Buffalo
Born	1910 Chicago, Illinois
Died	1955 (aged 45) Taos, New Mexico
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Art Education
Movement	Modern Realist

William Bentley Rowe (1910–1955) was an American artist and art educator who worked primarily in New York and New Mexico. He was a versatile artist who used a wide range of mediums with great success. He also executed several large murals. Rowe was a leading member of the Art Institute of Buffalo. Other well-known members of the Institute included Charles E. Burchfield, Edwin Dickinson, David Foster Pratt, and Isaac Soyer. However, Rowe was the driving-force behind the Art Institute’s development and growth during the nineteen thirties and forties.

Rowe was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1910. In 1913, he moved with his family to Buffalo, New York. As a young man, he attended Cornell University where he majored in architectural and fine arts. While at Cornell, he joined Kappa Sigma fraternity in 1929. After graduating from college in 1932, he returned to Buffalo to begin his career as a professional artist.

In 1934, Rowe was commissioned to paint a 100-foot, multi-panel mural at Bennett High School in Buffalo. The project was supported by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). The mural, called “New World Symphony,” was completed in 1935 and depicted the folk inspiration of American music. The work helped Rowe land the commission for an even larger PWAP mural in the Nurses’ Residence of the Buffalo Marine Hospital. When finished, the second mural was called “Old Buffalo of the Elegant Eighties and Nifty Nineties” or the “Buffalo and the Gay 90’s.” These two large works helped Rowe establish his reputation as a talented young artist.

Rowe went on to become a major figure in the Buffalo art community. In 1935, he began a cooperative studio where artists could share the costs of materials and exhibitions. However, his main efforts were aimed at developing the Art Institute of Buffalo. As a member of the faculty, he taught painting, theory and art history. Rowe was a popular teacher, but he was also a demanding instructor and a very tough critic of his student’s work. Many of his peers found him hard to deal with; nevertheless, he became director of the painting department in 1938, and in 1942 became president of the Art Institute’s board of directors. He continued to serve in these posts until 1945, and remained on the faculty until 1951.