John Norval Marchand was an artist and illustrator based in the St. Louis area. According to his obituary in the 1 April 1921 edition of the Caddo Herald, Marchand spent his early life in Caddo, Oklahoma which was part of the Choctaw Nation. Marchand's obituary further states that he was the son of a businessman and was baptized by Allen Wright, a Choctaw missionary and the principle cheif of the Choctaw republic from 1866-1870. This may indicate that Marchand himself was of Choctaw ancestry.

Although he died young at age forty-six, his brief career was prolific. He illustrated thirty-five books including Girl of the Golden West and Arizona: A Romance of The Great Southwest. He was a close friend of Charles Russell, meeting him in 1902 in Montana and hosting Russell in New York, introducing him to major art editors, publishers, and other well-known people. They even shared Marchand’s studio for a brief time.