Herndon Davis

In hundreds of colorful paintings and drawings he adds impressively to our portrait gallery," according to James X. Kroll, Manager, Western History and Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library, where many of Davis works are exhibited.

His subjects ranged from notorious prostitutes, like Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson, to Governor Ralph Lawrence Carr.

[1] He joined the army and was stationed in Denver in 1920 before being transferred to work on maps of China and Japan at the War College in Washington, D.C.[1] Davis attended Yale briefly.

[5] That episode led to the artist and journalist being called “that drunk who painted the face on the barroom floor”, according to authors Tom Noel and Craig Leavitt.

The book Herndon Davis: Painting Colorado History, 1901–1962 was released in conjunction of an exhibition of his work at the Denver Public Library.

[6] Among the notable subjects of his portraits were Governor Ralph Lawrence Carr, actress Katharine Hepburn,[4] Mother Cabrini, and Emily Griffith.

[12] His illustration of Ella "Cattle Kate" Watson was used for Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountain by Jan MacKell.

[4] The captured what Thomas Noel said many thought to be "the finest building ever done in Denver," the Tabor Grand Opera House, in its glory.

[10] Once considered the "Delmonico of the West" the Charpiot's Hotel had become a "shabby apartment building with seedy storefronts with old cars lined up in front of it."

Other places that Davis captured were the Palace Variety Theatre and Grayson's store and other 16th buildings in Eugene Field Alley.

The Rocky Mountain News published an article, with commentary provided by Joe Emerson Smith, in the 1940s about his paintings of landmarks.