Born in Gauting, Bavaria, Nick Eggenhofer became a painter of the romance of the American West with its cowboys and Indians. He has a reputation for historical accuracy from careful research and also as an authority about frontier western transportation.

He was first exposed to the lore of the American West by hearing about Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in Germany from older relatives who had seen performances. American western movies continued to stir the interest.

In 1913, at the age of sixteen, he came to America with his family from Germany, and three years later he enrolled in night art classes at Cooper Union in New York, something he did for four years. During the day he studied lithography at the American Lit...