James Vullo Oil on canvas .. W.P.A. /ASHCAN Portrait of a Man 1930’s

1938, when he was just 24 years old, James Vullo’s first exhibition opened at the Albright Art Gallery. Vullo began drawing around the age of eight. He loved the city, especially its waterfront, which is evident in his unique rendering of Buffalo’s cityscapes. After serving in World War II, Vullo attended the Art Institute of Buffalo. He was asked to be an instructor of life drawing and taught alongside distinguished faculty such as Charles E. Burchfield, Edwin Dickson, Isaac Soyer, and David Foster Pratt throughout the early to mid 1950s. Vullo experimented with watercolor, oils, acrylic, gouache, casein, pen and ink, pencil, chalk, wax crayon, and graphite. His artwork was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Butler Institute. He went on to teach at Buffalo State College and other local institutions. In his lifetime he never drove an automobile and was seen riding his bicycle all over the city. He continued to live on the West Side of Buffalo and painted until his death in 1999.