Robert Clifford Rishell  was born in Oakland, CA on Feb. 14, 1917. After high school he was awarded an art scholarship to study at the California College of Arts and Crafts, where he went on to earn both his B.A. and M.A. While developing as a young artist, Rishell became heavily influenced by Xavier Martinez.

Rishell served in the U.S. Navy and after returning home from WWII, he continued painting landscapes, portraits, and southwestern scenes of Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. While exploring the deserts of New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, the allure of the desert entranced Rishell, and became a lifelong pursuit. The mysterious and illusive qualities of the dry wasteland became fascinating to the young artist. The magnificence of monumental desert bluffs, dramatic shadows, and sweeping desert skies became the content for the majority of his paintings.

Rishell’s paintings and drawings are realistic depictions of an endless landscape. His subjects often focused on the exotic ironies of the desert, a place where parched land coexists with thriving beauty. Often consisting of a single rock, river, or unadorned brush, the artist captured the aloof and arid landscape and in all it’s splendor.

As a muralist, Rishell also helped organized the first showing of the Society of Western Artists at the California Garden and Home Exposition. Rishell was also instrumental in founding the Oakland Museum in northern California.

Rishell's works are held in a number of private and public collections, including the University of Chicago, Oakland Public Library World Trade Center, SF; Oakland Museum; Bank of Calif., Oakland; Palm Springs Desert Museum; National Cowboy Hall of Fame (Gene Autry); Treasure Island Naval Base; West Point Museum; Naval Academy Museum (Annapolis); Indianapolis Museum; UC Berkeley.