The following is from the artist's daughter, Donna Von Allman:

Don Louis Ruf was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1905. His early years were marked by frequent excursions into the largely untouched and unspoiled lands that then surrounded the city. Encouraged by his sign-painter father, Ruf took his first tentative steps as an artist to capture a part of that beauty with the only medium close at hand: paint and brush.

While in high school, Ruf became acquainted with art teacher Augustus W. Dunbier, who felt Ruf demonstrated sufficient talent to pursue art seriously. With the encouragement of Dunbier, Ruf applied to and was accepted into the school of art of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1924, where he studied...