A controversial figure - he was a hardcore Stalinist for a long period, was married seven times, and was generally outspoken and opinionated[2] - he eventually came to be respected as an important innovator and highly distinctive stylist in modern art, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

From an early age he was aware of the work of the local artists - such as Morris Graves, Mark Tobey, and Kenneth Callahan - who would later become known as the 'Northwest School'.

With the Great Depression in full swing, he lived at the family home in Tukwila while taking occasional art lessons and attempting to show his work to prospective employers.

He was eventually hired by Robert Bruce Inverarity, sketching, photographing, and doing odd jobs with the WPA's Federal Art Project, through which he met Morris Graves and his circle of friends.

[6] Although Cumming was close friends with most of the artists identified as members of the 'Northwest School', his mature work had little to do with the earth-toned, nature-inspired abstraction of the genre.

His art was usually figurative, capturing moments of daily life using light and shadow to create form in broad strokes, and utilizing contrasting, vibrant colors to move the viewer through the painting and accentuate the main elements.

In the late 1950s and early 60s Cumming's work won prizes in several northwest competitions, and in 1961 the Seattle Art Museum presented a very successful solo exhibition.