William Bowman (1826 – 1906)

“[A] wildfowl decoy carver and permanent resident of Maine, William Bowman is known nonetheless as the most recognized of all Long Island decoy carvers. Bowman’s biographical details are few, but among those established are his annual summer visits to the beaches in the area of Lawrence, Long Island, New York, where he fashioned decoys and gunned shorebirds. Oral histories and Maine documentation suggest that he worked in a sawmill in Bangor, Maine, and/or was a cabinetmaker there. He has been characterized as a “friendly, lazy hermit” who enjoyed “lifting the cup” and carving, a “true artist making decoys, rather than just a decoy maker that has an artistic bent.””

“Based on his extant wildfowl de...