Dewitt Parshall was an expressive painter of coastal and landscape views, who was born in Buffalo, New York. In 1885, he graduated from Hobart College where he had irritated faculty members because of his ability to do caricatures. He also studied at DeVeaux school in Niagara Falls, the Royal Academy at Dresden, and from 1886-1882, had further study at the Julian and Cormon academies in Paris.
Parshall had a studio in New York City. He was interested in painting western landscapes and he became a member of the Society of Painters of the West. From 1910 to 1917, he did a series of paintings of the Grand Canyon, which are his best-known works. In 1917, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, to paint coastal scenes and landscapes. He remained there until his death in 1956.
