Born in Bay City, Texas, Tommie (Thomas) Lewis became a painter of detailed Southwest landscapes and an art gallery owner in Taos, New Mexico.

He was a professional artist from the age of nineteen and began by painting scenes of the American South including swamp lands, cypress and beech trees, and blacks toiling in the field. He also did etching to supplement his income, but discovered that his slightly impaired eyesight prevented him from being a skilled etcher.

In the early 1930s, he began experimenting with sepia-tones and desert painting and developed a sophisticated range of colors, which were particularly expressive of the desert country.

As he was reaching a high point in his career, he had to interrupt it to s...