John Swartz

Who is John Swartz?

John Swartz was a photographer in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is notable for taking the only known portrait of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang of outlaws. A copy of this iconic photograph is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery

The Swartz brothers – David, John and Charles – were three Virginia farm boys who ventured west, arriving in Fort Worth in the mid-1880s. Over the next 30 years, they observed the city through the lens of a camera, snapping pictures of people, events and architecture – leaving a priceless legacy. They collectively produced thousands of photographs that were scattered to the four winds after their deaths. Hundreds of those images have survived, although the brothers themselves are largely forgotten.

The best-known photograph shows the five members of the “Wild Bunch” posed in John’s studio in 1900. His studio was located at 705½ Main Street upstairs over John P. Sheehan’s Saloon.