Ralph William Holmes, painter, illustrator, muralist, and teacher, was born in La Grange, Illinois on 1 October 1876. He attended Northwestern University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After further studies in Paris, Holmes returned to Chicago and joined the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he taught from 1903 to 1912. He then served as chair of the Department of Painting and Decorating at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburg for five years.

In 1916, Holmes headed west and spent a summer on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. Two years later he moved to Atascadero in Southern California where he was active as a muralist. He also taught for twenty-five years at the Otis Art Institute.

Holmes was a member of the California Art Club and served four terms as president; the Academy of Western Painters; Painters and Sculptors of Los Angeles; American Artists Congress; and Art Associations of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Laguna Beach.

Ralph William Holmes died on 6 February 1963 in San Luis Obispo, California.