Ralston Crawford (1906-1977) was born in St. Catherines, Canada, in 1906, and moved to Buffalo, New York four years later. In the 1920’s Crawford studied art at a number of schools, including the Otis Art Institute, Barnes School, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, and the Academies Scandinave and Julian in Paris. Upon his return to the U.S., Crawford became associated with a group of painters known as the Precisionists, whose style featured sharp lines, thin paint, limited palette, and industrial subject matter, which was viewed as a part of our cultural heritage.

His work chronicled industrial developments such as highways, harbors, silos, and even the atomic bomb. In 1946 he was sent as an illustrator to chronicle the atom-bomb test in Bikini Atoll. Following WW II, Crawford moved away Precisionism, no longer able to venerate the tools of war.