Harold Dow Bugbee is best known for his portrayals of ranch life, a subject
reflected in his paintings as well as his book and magazine illustrations.
Bugbee was born in Lexington, Massachusetts. In 1912, he went West to live on a
ranch near Clarendon, Texas. He attended public school in Clarendon and attended in 1917 attended Clarendon College. The following year he attended Texas A&M College and then graduated from the Charles Cumming School of Art, Des Moines, Iowa, in 1921.Following graduation, Bugbee studied in New York City and then returned to Clarendon in 1922.
Bugbee traveled regularly to Taos, New Mexico to paint with members of the Taos art colony. Drawing from his experiences living on a ranch, he did illustrations for books and magazines. He illustrated J. Evetts Haley's "Charles Goodnight, Cowman and Plainsman" (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1936). Bugbee's illustrations were found on the covers of "Country Gentleman", "Quarter Horse Journal", "Progressive Farmer", "The Cattleman", "Field and Stream", and "Panhandle-Plains Historical Review".
In 1951, he became part-time curator of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in
Canyon, Texas. Bugbee died in Clarendon, survived by his second wife, Olive Vandruff.
Bugbee's studio has been recreated and on permanent exhibit at the Panhandle-
Plains Historical Museum.
He was a member of the Amarillo art Association, and exhibitions include the Fort
Worth Frontier Centennial Exposition (1936), Annual Texas Artists Exhibition, Fort
Worth (1937), Nita Stewart Haley Library, Midland, Texas, and the Panhandle-Plains
Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas.