After graduating from Spence School in New York City, Bowman attended New York’s Grand Central Art School. She held her first one-woman show in 1940 at Boston’s Vose Gallery. In 1944 she married Alexander MacKay-Smith, the master of the Blue Ridge Hunt. She maintained regular commissions from prominent horsemen of America, Ireland, and England, including members of the Royal Family. She co-founded the American Academy of Equine Art, which is in Georgetown, Kentucky.