Fremont Ellis (1887-1985)

Born in Montana in 1897, lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico and died in 1985. He was a noted Santa Fe painter, printmaker & teacher. Ellis’ father, a dentist in Montana mining towns, became a carnival performer and theatre operator. Ellis grew up without a formal education but started painting at age 13. He was self-taught except for three months at the Arts Students League, when he was 18. Ellis set up shop in El Paso, Texas, which failed and at 20 became a full time painter. In 1919 he visited Santa Fe and got married. Unable to sell his paintings he moved back to California, where he lived in the San Fernando Valley.

Ellis did return to Santa Fe finding work as a sign painter and photographer. He helped form the art association: Los Cinco Pintores; Ellis as an impressionist was the most conservative of the group. They created an art colony in Santa Fe; pulling together many exhibitions at the site. Ellis’ landscape won a national in 1924. He separated from his wife in 1926, but remained in Santa Fe. He uses a camera while he is sketching and adjusts his color with a camera. This defined his tone. On the back of each painting he specified whether the work is oil or acrylic.