Mystery Desert Landscape Painting

This painting was given to me as a gift, and therefore I have very little solid information about it. It was given to me by a man who use to run an art gallary in Colorado. He said this painting was one of several that were willed to him by one of his clients from Houston, Texas, and that this client had a large collection of paintings from famous artists from the 1940's and 50's. It's a plain canvas that has not been strected or framed. Since I work at an art museum, if it is worth something I can have that done pretty easily. There are a couple slight cracks in the paint, and even though the signature is clearly visibile, I haven't been able to tell what it says. There is also an Art Finds Internation Registry sticker on the back, with the registration number 086137-D10-025

Fair