Gene Kloss (1903-1996)
We are especially interested in buying artwork by Gene Kloss.
Biography
Gene Kloss was born Alice Geneva Glasier in 1903 in Oakland, California. Kloss graduated from Berkeley in 1924. Her instructor, Perham Nahl, was astonished by her first print, and predicted that she would be an etcher. She continued to study at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts, and in 1925, married Phillips Kloss, a writer. She changed her name because she believed that a less feminine name would serve her better in the art world.
The couple established dual residence in Berkeley and Taos, and commuted each year. In Taos, they rented an old adobe house for ten dollars a month, for a decade. In the desert, Kloss made prints with a secondhand Sturges etching press, weighing 1,200 pounds. The couple kept their residence in California to care for their elderly mothers. When their two mothers died in 1965, they moved to Colorado, with the press in tow. They bought four acres above the Gunnison River. Eventually, due to allergies and gnats, they returned to their final home in Taos.
Kloss was an accomplished oil and watercolor painter, but her prints defined her career. Southwestern scenes, particularly of New Mexico, are common. During her 60 year career, Kloss created more than 600 prints. Kloss’ work is found in many collections, including the Metropolitan Museum, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and the Carnegie Institute.
