Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait was born near Liverpool, England, as the son of a maritime merchant. At the age of eight, when his father faced financial destitution, Tait was sent to live with relatives in the country outside of Lancaster. There he discovered a love for animals, nature, hunting, and fishing that inspired him throughout his life.

Tait first became curious about America upon seeing George Catlin's traveling exhibition of Indian portraits and artifacts in Paris in the late 1840s. He was so intrigued by Catlin's interpretation of the American West that he left for the United States in 1850. Although he settled in New York City, Tait spent much of his time in the Adirondack Mountains painting landscapes, wildlife, and sportsmen. His romantic and dramatic depictions of life in the Adirondacks were enormously popular throughout the pre-Civil War era. Although he never traveled farther west than the Adirondacks, Tait is considered one of the principal painters of the American frontier along with artists George Catlin, William Ranney, and Karl Bodmer.

During his career, Tait illustrated approximately thirty-six prints for the renowned Currier and Ives Lithographers. His specialty, however, was medium-sized, moderately priced animal paintings, which he produced in great numbers. Despite changing trends in the art world, Tait enjoyed a steady clientele until his death at eighty-five.

The son of a miniaturist painter for Queen Victoria, Archibald Thorburn began sketching at an early age and received most of his training from his father, only briefly attending St. John's Wood School of Art. After the death of his father, Thorburn moved to London in 1885 and studied with Joseph Wolf. In 1880, Thornburn began to exhibit at the Royal Academy and continued to do so for the next twenty years. The artist specifically became known for his illustrations of birds for publications such as W.F. Swaysland's Familiar Wild Birds and Lord Lilford's multi-volume survey Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Islands. He continually traveled around Great Britain, walking the moors of Scotland as well as the lands by his home in England, in order to study birds and animals in their natural habitats. He eventually settled at Hascombe and continued to work, sketching and painting birds for the rest of his life.

Thorburn is known as the greatest ornithological artist of Great Britain. As one of the first artists to sketch animals in the field, the artist made a significant impact on wildlife art. Most of his contemporaries were studying forms from taxidermy and zoos, so Thorburn's work seemed especially natural and life-like for the time. He preferred watercolors, believing the medium was more suited to birds and their plumage than oils, and his style changed very little throughout his career.

Bill Traylor was born a slave on the George Hartwell Traylor plantation about 35 miles outside Montgomery, AL. After the Civil War, Traylor stayed on the plantation working the land. In 1935 at the age of 82, Traylor left the farm and moved to Montgomery where he worked in a shoe factory until he was forced to quit because of his rheumatism. It was at this time that he began to do pencil drawings on cardboard. Sketching animals and people, Traylor drew the images that he saw on lively Monroe Street in Montgomery.

Charles Shannon, a white painter, met Traylor in 1939 and became his friend and supporter, providing Traylor with pencils, paints, and brushes. Shannon was also instrumental in arranging gallery shows for Traylor's work during his lifetime. He collected over 1200 of Traylor's drawings and paintings and revived interest in Traylor's work by arranging for his work to be included in the landmark exhibition, Black Folk Art in America at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Traylor's images reveal a mastery of balance in terms of opaque versus open areas and patterning versus flat color blocks. The artist used a limited color palette and preferred to work on irregular cardboard surfaces, which he incorporated into the design of his images. Traylor's work is often categorized as Folk or Outsider Art because of his self-taught and somewhat naive style.

Newbold Hough Trotter was a lifelong resident of Philadelphia, taking trips to the West and one expedition to Africa. He was mostly self-taught, but also studied briefly at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and The Hague in Holland. Painting both animals and landscapes, the artist worked directly from nature.

During his lifetime, Trotter's work was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Boston Athenaeum, and the National Academy of Design in New York. Wounded Buffalo Pursued by Prairie Wolves was displayed at the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876 and was purchased by General William Tecumseh Sherman for the Army headquarters in Washington, D.C. Trotter not only produced artwork for the War Department but also the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Smithsonian, and the Valley National Bank in Arizona. The artist was a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia Society of Artists, Art Club of Pennsylvania, and Artists Fund Society.