Biography
Sheldon Orrin Parsons was born in Rochester, New York. He attended the National Academy of Design. Parsons became a successful portrait painter in New York City and painted portraits of President McKinley and Susan B. Anthony. He married photographer Caroline Reed and had one daughter. After Caroline's passing and his fight with tuberculosis, he moved to Santa Fe with his daughter in search of fresher air and a fresh start. Once in Santa Fe, he became so infatuated with the landscape he became a landscape painter and never painted another portrait. Parson's impressionist landscapes were very well received by the Santa Fe art community. In 1918, Parsons became the first director of the New Mexico Museum of Fine Art.