Marfa artist Frank Gervasi who lived at 204 W Columbia was born in Palermo, Sicily and immigrated to the US in 1908. He lost his right arm – his “painting” arm – at the Battle of Somme in France during WWI and had to retrain himself to paint using his left hand. He moved to Marfa in 1960 after Midland oilman George T Abell commissioned him to paint thirty historical scenes in the oil field.