Robert N. Blair (1912-2002)

An active member of the Buffalo Society of Artists, Robert Blair also joined The Patteran Society, a group of “radicals” who had splintered from the more traditional BSA artists in 1933. The Buffalo Print Club captured his attention after the Second World War. In this portrait, Blair depicts Kevin B. O’Callahan (1902-1977), the major force behind the Buffalo Print Club, which he founded in 1931 with a small group of artists. O’Callahan served as the club’s president for more than twenty years, until 1953 when he was succeeded by William J. Schwanekamp.