With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Sanford Ballad Dole Low
Education/Curation, Painting/Drawing, Patronage
1905 – 1964
An artist himself, Sanford Low’s most important contribution to the Connecticut art world was as the first director of the New Britain Museum of American Art from 1939 to his death in 1964. He built the collection from 24 paintings to over 1,500 works of art including many recognized masterpieces, and acquired the work of contemporary modernist artists such as George Bellows, John Sloan, and Rockwell Kent.
- Biography/Description of Work
Born in Hawaii, Sanford Ballard Dole Low attended the Loomis School in Windsor for a semester in 1921, and the Museum School in Boston in 1923. After his marriage to Virginia Hart in 1930, the couple moved to New Britain, where they co-founded the Art League of New Britain. He was also a founder of the Connecticut Watercolor Society, involved in the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts and the Association of Connecticut Artists, and taught art at the Loomis School. He was the first director of the New Britain Museum of American Art, a position he held for twenty-five years.
- Sources view
- UConn artists database, Falk,WW99.
http://www.nbmaa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=46 http://www.samlow.com/sbdlgallery.htm - Associated Resource(s)