History
The Institute was founded in 1931. An agreement with the University at Buffalo's School of Education allowed students of the Institute to earn credit toward a Bachelors degree in Art Education.
According to William Rowe, the Art Institute was intended to be "a school, a gallery, a meeting place for artists, art students and the public with no discrimination and no competition, encouraging maximum freedom of self-expression." The Art Institute was regarded by many observers in the Buffalo community as a Bohemian artist colony, and many Institute artists saw themselves that way.
Over the years, the Institute presented many exhibits, including some for artists who were not from the region. They also scheduled art sales where the art was of both high quality and reasonably priced. In May 1937, Edwin Dickinson organized an art exhibition at which Jackson Pollock sold a work entitled Cotton Pickers. During World War II, proceeds were sometimes donated to the war effort. After the war, the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (also known as the "G. I. Bill") bought a large influx of student's to the Institute. However, when the flow of veterans slowed in the mid-fifties the Institute had to cut back its classes. It was closed in 1956. Today, the archives of the Art Institute of Buffalo in the Burchfield-Penney Art Center which is part of Buffalo State College.
Read more about this topic: Art Institute Of Buffalo
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