Described as a talented young painter who had left his wealthy family in the East to settle in Taos, Cady Wells---also known as Henry Cady Wells, was born and raised in Southbridge, Massachusetts. He was 20 years old before deciding to become an artist. As a gay young man, he was sent by his family at age 22 to Mesa, Arizona to the Evans School Ranch for Boys, which, described as the western equivalent of Philips Andover, was designed to give eastern young men a college preparatory education in a western ranch lifestyle environment.

From there, he studied and traveled widely, pursuing interests in music and the visual arts. In 1932 he went to New Mexico and almost immediately fell under the influe...