Arthur Schott was born in Stuttgart, Germany. After moving to the United States, he frequently traveled and worked in the southwest. He was as one of three artists to depict Mexican border country landscape and its people, as well as being a survey artist for the Emory Expedition of the Mexican Boundary Survey in the mid-19th century. In the southwest, he illustrated countless subjects including botanicals, natural history, Native Americans, and landscapes. Along with being an artist, Schott had many talents in other areas like music, geology, poetry, and engineering.