Fred Darge (American, 1900 to 1978)
Born in Germany and immigrating to the United States in 1923, Fred Darge received his training at two of the most prestigious art schools in the United States: The Art Institute of Chicago and The Art Students League in New York. His first job was a commercial artist, but he was soon unemployed because of the deepening Great Depression. Displaced and out of work, Darge moved to San Antonio to be nearer to West Texas. He had toured West Texas in 1929, and was determined to further explore the area and its artistic possibilities.
In 1935, Darge moved to Dallas. He would spend the warm months traveling to West Texas between Big Bend, El Paso, and the Davis Mountains, and northward into New Mexico. The cold months would then be spent in Dallas finishing the paintings he had started earlier in the year.
Darge became the foremost chronicler of ranch life in Texas. After World War II, he purchased an old ambulance and converted it into a mobile studio, spending 1946 to 1978 traveling and painting throughout Texas and New Mexico.
Biographical information courtesy of Heritage Galleries. 07.09.