Robert Farrington Elwell at Parsons Gallery of the West

Robert Farrington Elwell was born near Boston Massachusetts in 1874. As a “Boston Globe” newspaper artist in the later 1890’s he sketched scenes from Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows. This assignment inspired the development of his painting career. He befriended Wild Bill Cody and Cody was so impressed with Elwell’s talent that he invited him to spend summers at his Wyoming ranch, the TE Ranch, where he could have plenty of sketching subject matter. He became ranch manager for 25 years, while illustrating for magazines and calendars. At the ranch he met great western personalities, such as; Frederic Remington, Diamond Jim Brady, Theodore Roosevelt, Annie Oakley, and Sioux tribal chief Iron Tail, who made Elwell a Tribal member.

Elwell was self-taught. His talent surfaced at a very early age, and he earned numerous magazine commissions for his western sketches. He lived his last years in Phoenix, Arizona .