The Art Institute of Buffalo started as a small teaching institution at the Grosvenor Library at 369 Franklin Street, moved to the Edwards Building at West Genesee and Franklin Streets, and then was housed at 56 Starin Avenue through June 27, 1942. The Art Institute began its fall semester of classes on September 14, 1942 in new headquarters at 530 Elmwood Avenue near West Utica. In 1943, it was listed at 1231 Elmwood Avenue. Subsequently, it expanded to hold classes at 527-535 Elmwood Avenue at West Utica Street until it closed in 1956.
Founding co-directors were Harry M. Bell and Dr. William M. Hekking (who had just stepped down as director of the Albright Art Gallery). Nationally and locally acclaimed artists who served as faculty included Edwin Dickinson; social realist Isaac Soyer; renowned watercolorist Charles E. Burchfield; abstract landscapist Earl B. StrohWilliam B. Rowe; Robert N. Blair; David Pratt; Jean MacKay Henrich; Catherine Catanzaro Koenig; Don Burns; William Ehrich; William Seitz; Mary and Richard Carroll; Henry Gorski; Louise Jameyson; Gerald Gross; James Vullo; Rix Jennings; Oliver Lomax; Faith Davis; and Anthony Sisti. A sampling of its students who developed accomplished careers as artists includes Joe Orffeo, Jeanette Kenney Blair, Walter A. Prochownik, Joseph Eger, William E. West Sr., Joseph Caruana, and Hannah Samuels. Many people who had served in the armed forces were able to attend Art Institute classes on the G. I. Bill. In fact, the Art Institute played a unique role in analyzing and training industrial camouflage – the first such course in the country, conducted with permission of the corps of engineers of the war department.