Emil Bisttram was born in Hungary and immigrated to New York City with his family at 11. He received his artistic training in New York at the National Academy of Design, Cooper Union, and the Art Students League and with Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera.
He went for several months to Mexico to study mural painting with Rivera, then taught briefly in Phoenix, Arizona, and in 1931, settled in Taos.
His murals can be found in the courthouses in Taos and Roswell, New Mexico and the lobby of the Department of Justice Building in Washington D.C.