Marvin Lowe (1922-2010) is an internationally known printmaker, mixed media, and collage artist whose work appears in galleries and museums around the globe. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lowe attended a technical high school where he focused on math and physics. Later, Lowe learned to play the saxophone and developed an affinity for jazz music.
During WWII, Lowe played tenor saxophone for Artie Shaw’s navy band, as well as in the band on the battleship USS Arkansas. Post discharge, he played in bands led by Raymond Scott, Woody Herman, and Bobby Sherwood. He then studied music composition at the Juilliard School and earned a BA in English Literature from Brooklyn College in 1955. To continue supporting his family, Lowe continued playing in jazz clubs, but also developed an interest in drawing.
Lowe applied to the printmaking program at the University of Iowa and there earned his MFA in 1960. His teaching career began at Kentucky’s Berea College and, in 1967, he joined the faculty at Indiana University-Bloomington, where he taught advanced printmaking with Rudy Pozzatti. He later worked with Wendy Calman and further developed the Printmaking Workshop, which earned an outstanding reputation for teaching and research.
Lowe retired from teaching at IU in 1991, after receiving a National Endowment for the Arts Artist’s Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Grant. He has artwork displayed in the Art Institute of Chicago, the British Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, just to name a few.
Deborah Goalby
About 20 years ago a friend gave me a Marvin Lowe print titled ‘the academicians’, 1968, 20/68. Can you tell me anything about it? I was surprised to receive it, as I had been a printmaking as an undergrad. Thank you.