William Bentley Rowe (1910–1955) was an American artist and art educator who worked primarily in New York and New Mexico.

Other well-known members of the Institute included Charles E. Burchfield, Edwin Dickinson, David Foster Pratt, and Isaac Soyer.

The mural, called “New World Symphony,” was completed in 1935 and depicted the folk inspiration of American music.

The work helped Rowe land the commission for an even larger PWAP mural in the Nurses’ Residence of the Buffalo Marine Hospital.

[1][2][3] In 1945, Rowe began making regular trips to Mexico and the American southwest where he had many artist friends including Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros and Santa Fe artists Joseph Bakos and Walter Mruk.

In addition, his works were exhibited in the 1939 New York World’s Fair and San Francisco’s Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939-1940.

[3][10][11] Today, William Rowe’s works are sold in commercial art galleries primarily in New York and the American southwest and in national auctions as they become available.

Without William Rowe’s dedication and drive behind it, the Art Institute of Buffalo lost its creative momentum, eventually closing in 1956.

William Rowe’s personal papers are archived in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery library in Buffalo.