Edward Dugmore began his formal schooling in his hometown of Hartford, Connecticut before studying at the Kansas City Art Institute under Thomas Hart Benton. In 1948, Dugmore took advantage of the G.I. Bill and moved out west to San Francisco to further his studies in art at the California School of Fine Arts. There he studied with Clyfford Still, who was influential on his development, both as an artist and a close friend. Dugmore also became a lifelong friend of fellow student and artist Ernest Briggs.

In 1952 Mr. Dugmore moved to New York, and during the decades that followed his work enjoyed an active exhibition schedule across a range of venues. Dugmore exhibited with along other Abstract Expressionists at the Stable Gallery there. His paintings have been in exhibitions in important museums, institutions and art galleries over the course of eight decades beginning in the 1940s.