John Enser was born in Ennis
and studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Academy of
Fine Arts, Chicago. He returned to Texas to study in San Antonio
with Jose Arpa. He was very active in art exhibitions and with the
art community of South Texas in he 1920's. In 1929 he moved to
Lexington, Massachusetts to study for two years with Hermann Dudley
Murphy. They became fast friends and Murphy and his wife often
traveled to Texas to stay with Enser. He retained close ties to his
Texas roots and returned often to visit family and friends and kept
a part time home in Texas. He became a teacher in public schools and at
Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, the School of Practical
Arts and Letters at Boston University, and the Vesper George School.
He later moved to New Hampshire where he was know as the "Mount Monadnock Painter."