Robert Blair
(1912-2003)
Robert Blair was born in 1912 in Buffalo, New York. At age 17, Blair studied art privately with Charles E. Burchfield before going on to study sculpting and drawing at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1933 he joined the Patteran Society and began exhibiting throughout New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. During the 1930’s and 40’s, Blair exhibited at many well-known galleries including the Corcoran Gallery, the Watercolor Institute in Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Blair was commissioned to do murals by the U.S. Army in Berlin, and by the Bethlehem Steel Company. He taught at the Albright Art School in Buffalo, NY and at the Buffalo State University. He was also the Director of The Art Institute of Buffalo from 1946 to 1949. Blair’s works are in several permanent collections, including those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Butler Institute of American Art, and the Ford Motor Company Collection. Robert Blair died in 2003 in Holland, NY.