Ray Swanson

Art Brokerage: Ray Swanson American Artist: b. 1937- 2004. Ray was born in 1937 in a country that was struggling to recover from the Great Depression. Ray became the most famous for his portraits of the Navajo elders and the Navajo children dressed in their colorful native attire. Ray made regular driving trips to the Navajo Reservation, which was a 3-hour drive from their home in Prescott, AZ. He and his family, daughter, Pamela and son, Steven, moved to Arizona in 1973 because he realized that he needed to visit the Native American tribes of the southwest as frequently as possible. Ray wanted to observe them in their surroundings and have them model for him for the paintings. Eventually, he painted the Hopi, Pima, Apache and Nez Perce of Idaho and Sioux Indians. At this same time Ray was painting the ranching cowboys near their Prescott, AZ home. During the summer of 2004, Ray was bothered with painful back trouble and at Mayo Hospital on Oct. 1, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer (bone marrow cancer). He fought a brave battle as the medical team and many prayers attempted to save his life. On December 17, 2004 at age 67, he passed from this life to a better place in Heaven to be with his Lord. Oil paintings wanted,