Eugene Bonfanti Thurston (Texas, 1896-1993), "Desert Shower", oil on canvas

sight: 24 x 30 in., frame: 31 in. x 37 in.

Provenance: Property from a Fort Worth, Texas collection

A prominent early Texas artist and muralist who lived in El Paso, Eugene Thurston was also a teacher and lecturer. For his landscapes, much of his subject matter came from the area surrounding his home. He was a prolific painter, continuing into his 80s, and worked in oil, watercolor, and ink and depicted desert and mountain scenes and also Mexican villages. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in El Paso where he graduated from El Paso High School. Then he studied commercial art through a correspondence course from the Federal School of Art in Minneapolis. Between 1940 and 1966, he taught art courses at El Paso Technical Institute and El Paso High School.