John W. "Tex" Moore was born near Fort Worth, Texas in 1865. He was a self taught painter of the West in Texas and the Yellowstone Park areas. Tex Moore's father started the Abilene Trail. Moore worked as a cowboy when the range was "open" and drew by the chuckwagon fire at night. He was a Texas Ranger and an Indian Scout with General Crook in the campaign against Geronimo's Apaches. Encouraged by the work of Remington, Moore painted cowboy genre scenes and landscapes of Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming. About 1885, he opened a studio near Yellowstone Park. The Santa Fe Railroad commissioned a painting of the Grand Canyon. In 1935, Moore returned to Texas, establishing his studio in Wichita Falls. That same year the Texas Legislature in its Resolution 48 designated him the "Official Cowboy Artist of the Lone Star State."