Lowell Blair Nesbitt (October 4, 1933 – July 8, 1993) was an American painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor known for his technically precise and diverse body of work. Born in Towson, Maryland, he studied at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University and the Royal College of Art in London. Nesbitt began his career in abstraction but transitioned to realism in the early 1960s after encouragement from artist Robert Indiana, leading to his acclaimed series of large-scale floral paintings.

His most famous works include gargantuan images of irises, roses, lilies, and other flowers, often depicted in close-up so their petals dominate the canvas. These dramatic, implicitly sexual, and sometimes ominous compositions earned him widespread public popularity. In 1980, the United States Postal Service issued four stamps based on his floral paintings. He also served as the official artist for NASA's Apollo 9 and Apollo 13 missions and painted a monumental 26 x 251-foot mural for the U.S. Navy in 1976—the largest mural in the U.S. at the time.

Nesbitt was often associated with Photorealism but resisted classification, embracing surreal and conceptual elements. His subjects ranged from studio interiors, piles of shoes, and cast-iron buildings to x-ray figures, computer components, and animals. He created a legendary 12,500-square-foot studio in Manhattan’s West Village, once a police stable, featuring a central indoor pool and a massive skylight—later known as “The Old Stable.” This space, which hosted major art world figures like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, became a cultural landmark.

He had over 130 solo exhibitions during his lifetime, including at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. Nesbitt was also known for his personal legacy: he initially pledged $1.5 million to the Corcoran Gallery of Art but revoked the bequest in 1989 after it canceled a controversial Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition, redirecting the funds to the Phillips Collection—where he once worked as a night watchman.