Americo Imre Makk was born in 1927 in Hungary. He studied art at the Hungarian National Academy in Budapest and won a scholarship to Rome, where he won the Vatican Portrait Award.

He and his wife Eva were both appointed Professors at the Academy de Bellas Artes in Sao Paulo, Brazil. There they became official artists of the Brazilian government.

In 1962 they came to New York City to escape Brazil's political instability. Americo began his western theme painting when the Los Angeles Museum sent him to sketch ranches in California, a subject he also pursued in Texas.

In 1967 he moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he used books and museums for initial research of his subject matter and then visited Indian reservations and western towns for first - hand observation. He has also done portraits, including Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.