Jack Bilander was born in Lodz, Poland on April 4, 1919. His family immigrated to New York at some point and Bilander began studying art at the National Academy of Design (scholarship), Art Students League (scholarship), Columbia University and New York University (scholarship), all in New York City. Among his teachers were Alton Pickens, Gus Bosa, Will Barnet, Vaclav Vytlacil and  Harry Sternberg.

Bilander had one-person shows over the years in New York, Ohio, Washington and at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.; University of Maine at Orono, Maine; University Museum of Art, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico and in Connecticut with the "Hunger and Poverty" exhibition sponsored by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.

His work was also exhibited in group shows at the Library of Congress, Brooklyn Museum of Art, National Academy of Design - painting and print Annual, Washington Printmakers, Boston Print makers, Northwestern Printmakers, SAGA annuals, Hunterdon Art Center, Fabulous Fifties at the Free Library, Philadelphia, Pa.; Donnell Library, NY; Mainstream of Western Art, Wellington, New Zealand; USC print annual, Bay Area Printmakers Annual and at many colleges and universities.

His work also traveled with SAGA under auspices of USIA; Directors of the Western Museum Art; American Federation of ARt and an Associated American Artists sponsered print show in Japan

Jack Bilander’s work can be found in the collections of the Library of Congress; Wellington Museum, New Zealand; Free Library, Philadelphia, Pa.; Arts and Craft Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Art Students League; university Museum, Puerto Rico; Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers of America; Duke and Duchess of Windsor; Walter Beardley; Gene Barry; David Atkinson; and many private collections in Israel, Iceland, Great Britain, Japan, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Honduras, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, and practically every state in the Union.

Jack Bilander died on June 2, 2008 in New York, NY.