Ramon Mitchell Froman (Texas / New Mexico, 1908-1980), portrait of Ben Couse Lujan (favorite model of Eanger Irving Couse), oil on canvas, signed lower left, with letters on the verso:

-Taos Art Gallery letterhead, note from the artist to the owners, dated 1978

-Taos Art Gallery letterhead, signed by Clara Martinez

sight: 24 x 20 in., frame: 31 x 27 in.

Provenance: Property from an Austin, Texas collector

Ramon Froman was a nationally recognized portrait painter and teacher who studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and trained under several notable instructors, including Emden F. Van Amburgh, whom he credited most strongly with launching his career; he also studied anatomy with Charles Schroeder, brush technique and color with Glenn C. Sheffer, illustration with Edwin Henry and Hadden Sundblum, portrait painting with Frederic Mizen, and watercolor with Gerry Pierce, Rex Brandt, Edgar Whitney, and John Pike. Influenced by Old Masters such as Velázquez, Van Dyck, Rubens, and Frans Hals, as well as twentieth-century painters Robert Henri, John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, and Joaquín Sorolla, Froman specialized in oil portraits, particularly commissioned portraits and depictions of American Indian, Mexican-American, and Spanish subjects. After moving to Dallas, he became active in numerous professional art organizations and exhibiting institutions, including the American Artists Professional League, Allied Artists of America, Grand Central Art Galleries, the Taos Art Gallery, and the Reminisce Gallery, and directed the nationally recognized Froman School of Art in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, for twenty-three years. His portraits entered permanent collections at Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Austin, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, and the Koshare Indian Museum, among others, and his numerous awards included American Artists Professional League Best Portrait and Gold Medal honors.