Forrest Kirkland (1892 - 1942)

Forrest Kirkland, made his living as an illustrator in Dallas, Texas from about 1922 - 1945. Although his bread and butter was retouching photos of machinery, he did various illustrations for many different publications and companies of the region. As a hobby he started sketching the cave paintings around Texas and New Mexico areas on family outings. He believed that the existing Indian art works were being vandalized rapidly and so started a campaign to at least make copies for posteriety. He went out frequently even with two small children and his wife, Sadie (Hollaway). Often he would have to stand up to his chest in water to be able to observe the paintings inside of the caves. He also was a member of a Dallas poetry society and an active member in the Dallas arts community in various capacities. A book of his scale drawn watercolors of Southwest Indian paintings was first reproduced by the University of Texas Press in 1967 and recently been reprinted. Since most of the information was provided by his second wife, there are a few inaccuracies. One major flaw in the book was, unfortunately, the unacknowledged first wife, Sadie, and two children, Violet and Roy Kirkland.