Born in Peckham, Vermont on December 30, 1850, Rix moved to San Francisco in 1853 but due to his mother's death moved back to Peckham to live with his grandmother in 1857. After graduating from the Peckham Academy in 1868, he returned to San Francisco where he was apprenticed to a large trading firm and later worked in a paint store where he painted signs and decorative work. He was breifly a student of Virgil Williams at the School of Design but was largely self-taught. Rix became close friends with Amadee Joullin and Jules Tavernier. When Tavernier established an art colony in Monterey in 1876, Rix followed him there. His studio was in the French Hotel until returning to San Francisco in 1879. The depressed local art market lead Rix east in 1880 where he established a studio in New York City. His works were exhibited at the National Academy of Design during the 1880's. After studying art briefly in Europe, his works were in great demand upon his return to New York. He maintained active in the San Francisco art scene and in 1883 sent 200 paintings there for a successful solo show. In 1881 his illustrations appeared in Picturesque California. Rix returned to the west coast for several months in 1901 and painted the valleys and mountains near Monterey and Santa Barbara. A kidney operation lead to his death on November 24, 1903.

Biography courtesy of DeRu's Fine Arts, www.antiquesandfineart.com/derus