Robert Bowden: December 2024
Robert Bowden, a native Pittsburgher, attended Carnegie Institute of Technology College of Fine Arts, Department of Painting and Design and graduated in 1954. He was awarded a fellowship to the Yale-Norfolk Summer Art School in 1952. Upon graduation he worked in commercial art and in a printing company until drafted into the Army in 1955. Returning from duty in France in 1957, he again worked as a graphic designer, and in 1963 opened his own graphic design office. The business continued for 40 years servicing corporate, institutional, and foundation clients. From the time Robert graduated he participated in the fine art scene in Pittsburgh. In the early 1960s, he joined AAP and served as board member and then president in the late 1970s. His first of at least 25 one-person exhibitions was in 1968.
When Robert graduated from CMU he was an abstract non-objective painter, but in 1968 he began watercolor painting and shortly after started to paint in Plein Aire. The streets of Pittsburgh were his main subject. In the late 1990s Robert had the opportunity to paint on the streets of Manhattan, where he had two successful exhibitions. As a result he was asked by a New York publisher, Rizzoli/Universe to do a book of his New York watercolors, Manhattan in Detail. This led to 4 more books, Pittsburgh: Watercolor Impressions (has 2nd edition), On Block Island, On Marthas Vineyard, and The Astounding Bridges of Pittsburgh. Robert’s work is in 5 museum permanent collections, including the Carnegie that has 3 of his works. He continues painting and lives in Point Breeze with his wife Diana, with whom he shares 3 children and 5 grandchildren.
My art education at CMU covered basics concerning composition and color. I was absorbed by non-objective abstraction and applied the basics to my painting, and in addition, became interested in spacial illusion and form, and surface of the work. These aspects have continued to this day, regardless of whether it’s a realistic work or an abstraction.
My early abstract non-objective work was inspired by the Abstract New York artists, as were many other painters of that time. I was particularly influenced by the above mentioned Yale-Norfolk experience, led by Josef Albers. It was an intense exhilarating experience with 25 other artists and visiting elite artists. In 1968 I first attempted watercolor and its appeal of painting on the street was challenging. It took almost 10 years to feel confident with the medium. My efforts as a Plein Aire painter were meant to picture subjects that could influence the behavior of our citizens and with an occasional social comment in them. Now I have again returned to abstraction as Plein Aire has become physically very difficult.
View more of Bob Bowden’s work here.
Current Exhibitions:
Robert has work featured in SAMA 29th Annual.
Also, he has 3 pieces in the current AAP exhibition 114 x 114! The third work will be added in the second drop this week. Work is available online at aapgh.org/store and in-person during gallery hours at the AAP Exhibition Space.
