Robert Harlow was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1914. He studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and received his BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS from the University of Pennsylvania in 1938. He was a member of the Fellowship of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Springfield Art League. According to a WPA report, in 1939 Harlow was single and living in the Buckingham Building in Waterbury, Connecticut. He completed 47 works for the WPA Federal Arts Project from 1939-1941. His work was allocated to the Cedarcrest Sanatorium, Laurel Heights Sanatorium, Hamden High School, and Southbury Training School. Harlow may have died in 1991.