Elwood Fordham was a student of Thomas Hart Benton during the latter's tenure at the Kansas City Art Institute (1935-1941).
Born in Long Beach, CA on Dec. 8, 1913. Fordham studied at the Art Center School in Los Angeles and the Kansas City Art Institute. During the 1940s he taught at the Pasadena Art Institute, Kansas City Art Institute, Beverly Hills Adult Education, and then continued for 25 years in the Richmond school system. Member: Foundation of Western Art. Exh: Portland (OR) Museum, 1939; Kansas City Art Inst., 1939; PAFA, 1940; LACMA, 1940 (purchase prize); Virginia Museum, 1940; NAD, 1940; Foundation of Western Art, 1940-46; San Francisco Art Association, 1940-41; Oakland Art Gallery, 1940, 1941; LA AA, 1946; Calif. State Fair, 1950; LA Co. Fair, 1951.