Ralph Brownell McGrew (6 September 1916 – 17 June 1994) was an artist noted for his landscapes of the Western United States and portraits of Native American individuals.
"[1] When he was eight-years-old, his family moved to Southern California, where he took art classes at Alhambra High School under Lester Bonar, a landscape painter in oil and watercolor.
He also made portraits of prominent Southern Californians as well as scenic backgrounds for motion picture studios including M.G.M.
After falling in love with the deserts around Los Angeles, McGrew began to make painting trips through the Southwest.
For more than 30 years, McGrew traveled the back roads of the Hopi and Navajo reservations, to which he was introduced in the mid-1950s by the Western artist Jimmy Swinnerton.