Will Low was introduced to art in the studio of Albany's best known artist of the day, the sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer. He spent the early 1870s in New York City producing drawings for national publications such as Harper's Weekly, Appleton's Journal, and Hearth and Home. From 1873 to 1877, with the assistance of Palmer and others, he lived in Paris where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme and Carolus-Duran. He spent his summers at Barbizon and at Grez-sur-Loing and, during these years, met internationally know artists such as Jean François Millet and Mihály Munkácsy, and exhibited the products of his studies at the Paris Salons. On his return to America, Low taught at the schools of the Cooper Union (1882-1885) and the National Academy (1889-1892). He maintained a life-long association with the latter, showing his works in many of the Academy's annual exhibitions beginning in 1872. In 1886, he returned to Paris and spent the next year traveling through Italy and England.
Low's art reflected the academic aesthetics of his teachers and he made a lasting contribution to its survival into the 20th century with his large mural projects and with his writings. He published the autobiographical A Chronicle of Friendships and A Painter's Progress in 1908 and 1910 respectively and wrote a number of articles on art and taste for the magazines Scribner's, McClure's, and Harper's, among others. His penchant for decorative work was realized on a smaller scale in his book illustrations, the best known of which were done for Keats' Lamia (1885) and Odes and Sonnets (1888). He also made designs for stained-glass windows, undoubtedly influenced in this by his friend John La Farge. Among his other close artistic associates were Edwin Austin Abbey, Wyatt Eaton, Olin Warner, J. Alden Weir, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and, especially, Robert Louis Stevenson.
Low was a member of the Society of American Artsts, the National Society of Mural Painters, the Architectural League of New York, the Century Club, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In addition to his role as a teacher at the National Academy, he served as chair of the organization's school committee during the first decade of the twentieth century. He married twice; his second wife was the artist Mary Louise Fairchild, who had been the wife of Low's former pupil Frederick MacMonnies. In 1896, Low took a home and studio in the artists' community of Lawrence Park in Bronxville, New York.
