Masterworks of the Low Illustration Collection

One of the most unique and exceptional aspects of the New Britain Museum of American Art's permanent collection is The Sanford B.D. Low Illustration Collection, named in honor of the Museum’s first director, a passionate advocate of American illustration. Conceived in 1965, a year following Low's untimely passing, the collection was founded by well-known artists and illustrator who, with the support of NBMAA trustees and fellow illustrators, established the Sanford B.D. Low Illustration Committee. Carrying on Low's desire to preserve and promote illustration, the Committee invited established artists to donate their work to the Museum and succeeded in amassing an exemplary collection of works by some of America's most preeminent illustrators. Today, the Committee continues to flourish, and the collection has grown to nearly 2,000 works, making it one of the nation's three largest museum collections to focus exclusively on the art of illustration.

Selections from the Sanford B.D. Low Illustration Collection showcases some of the collection's finest examples and features iconic and groundbreaking artists who captured distinctly American values through story and advertisement illustrations as well as cover illustrations for publications such as "Scribner's Magazine" and "The Saturday Evening Post." Among the themes addressed in these captivating works are American pastimes, family and friends, love and romance, wartime, fantasy, and science fiction. Illustrators throughout American history have told stories in compelling and innovative ways, as evidenced by the diverse works presented here.