Arthur Kowalski

Arthur Kowalski was an artist, muralist, vocalist, and educator who was born June 4, 1893, in Cincinnati, Ohio and relocated to Buffalo in 1901. He began his art training in 1913, studying at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. He also began exhibiting his landscapes, gardenscapes, and coastal views in group shows at the Albright Art Gallery that same year. Kowalski continued his studies at the Cooper Union School of Art and later at the Art Students League in New York. He also studied under several notable artists, including Bolton Coit Brown and John William Bentley at the Woodstock Art Colony, as well as Alexis Fournier and Sandor Landeau in East Aurora.

Kowalski was a member of the Arts Club of Buffalo, serving as president from 1924-1925, the Patteran Society, the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, the American Institute of Decorators, the Polish Arts Club, and the Guild of Allied Artists, among others. He was also an active member of the Buffalo Society of Artists, exhibiting regularly and serving as its president in 1952. He exhibited with the Independent Artists’ Salon in New York and was featured in several shows at the Albright Art Gallery. He also pursued several business ventures, opening two different restaurants during his life as well as an art gallery on Allen Street in 1942. A retrospective of Kowalski’s work was exhibited at the Amherst Museum Colony Park in 1989.