Paul Stewart was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1928. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art and received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine arts from Albion College and the University of Michigan, respectively. A printmaker, Stewart is Professor Emeritus, the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Over fifty museum and university permanent collections include Stewart's work. Among the collections are the Cleveland Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts; The Hokkaido Japanese Painting Research Institution, Sapporo, Japan; the Library of Congress; Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Museu De Arts Contemporanea De Campins, Brasil; The National Gallery of Art; Tamarind Institute of Lithography Collection; and the Walker Art Center. He won numerous awards in exhibitions including the 5 Exposcio Mini-Gravat Internacional, Cadaque, Spain; the International Print Biennials, Krakow, Poland; the Biennial International Exhibition of Prints at the Museum of Modern Art, Wakayana, Japan; and competitions throughout the USA.