Donald Teague (1897-1991) was born in Brooklyn, New York, and is widely know as one of the great watercolorists of this century. In 1916, he spent a year studying with Bridgman and DuMond at the famed Art Students League in New York, then went off to serve in the Navy during World War I. Teague then studied briefly with Norman Wilkinson in London, before returning the Art Students League. This time around, it was teacher Dean Cornwell who helped the young artist on his way to becoming a successful and talented illustrator by 1921. Teague landed a job as primary illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post, and also for Collier's magazine, where he often signed his work as Edwin Dawes. Though Teague was mostly based in New York during these early years, he spent several summers on a Colorado ranch, eventually moving there in 1938. For the next 20 years, he was the Western Illustrator for Collier's, until the magazine ceased publication in 1958.

At the end of his career as an illustrator, Teague devoted the rest of his life to painting, becoming a highly decorated and much-honored figure: his long list of awards include five First Prizes from the National Academy of Western Art, both the Gold and Silver Medal Honors from the American Watercolor Society, the S.F.B. Morse Gold Medal from the National Academy of Western Art, and two Gold Medals from the Cowboy Artists of America. His work has been exhibited in museums around the world and continues to be extremely collectible.