Rex Slinkard: From Indiana Ranch to California Art Scene

Rex Slinkard, the younger son of rancher Stephen Wall Slinkard and Laura Simonson, spent his early years in Knox County, Indiana, before his family relocated to the Saugus section of Los Angeles County, California, sometime after 1900. The Slinkard family settled on a horse-and-cattle ranch nestled in the Tehachapi Hills, north of the city.

Slinkard pursued his artistic education at the University of Southern California, where he studied for two years under the tutelage of landscape painter William Lees Judson. His journey then took him to New York City, where he enrolled at the Chase School, studying under Robert Henri. It was there he became classmates with George Wesley Bellows, with whom he shared a flat and studio. Both Slinkard and Bellows followed Henri when he established his own school the following year. Notably, Slinkard's likeness can be seen in the foreground of Bellows's 1909 painting, 'Stag at Sharkey's', where he appears as the man smoking a cigar and looking back at the viewer.

Following the death of Hedges in January 1910, Slinkard returned to California that summer and was offered the position of chief instructor at the League. The school hosted an exhibition in August 1910, showcasing works by Slinkard and League alumnus Pruett Carter, which garnered a highly favorable review in 'The Los Angeles Times'. By early 1911, at the age of 23, Slinkard was appointed director of the League. His friend Carl "Sprink" Sprinchorn, a fellow student of Henri, joined him as an instructor at the institution.