Gene Kloss
Born California, 1903
Died New Mexico, 1996

Gene (Alice Geneva) Kloss is considered one of America's master printmakers. She was born in Oakland, California and established herself as an artist on the West coast. However, it was not until Kloss moved to Taos, New Mexico in her late twenties and began her life's work of the New Mexican landscape and peoples, that she received national acclaim. Her artwork exudes an unmistakable content and style. Enchanted by the architecture, mountainous landscapes and rituals of the inhabitants, Kloss captured the beauty of the Southwest and surrounding areas. Her style was bold yet deftly simple, masterfully expressing the elusive Southwestern light. In 1938, she exhibited in Paris with Ernest Blumenschein, Georgia O'Keefe, and John Sloan. She was also a member of the National Academy of Design, New York.

Education: University of California at Berkeley; California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco; California School of Arts and Crafts, Oakland.

Exhibited: Whitney Museum of American Art; Sweden; World's Fair, New York; Golden Gate Exposition; United States Exhibition; Paris; Italy; Prairie Print Maker; Carnegie Institute; Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe; San Francisco Museum of Art; San Diego Fine Art Society; Denver Art Museum; Three Centuries of Art in the United States; Paris, France; National Academy of Design; Embassy Building, New Delhi, India; Society of American Graphic Artists; The West by Member of the National Academy of Design; Phoenix Art Museum.

Works held: Smithsonian Institution; New York Public Library; San Francisco Museum of Art; Honolulu Museum of Arts; Dallas Museum of Fine Art; Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe; Oklahoma University; Texas Technical Institute; Prairie Print Makers, 100 Prints of the Year; Art Institute of Chicago; Library of Congress; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Carnegie Institute; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Museum of Tokyo, Japan.

Further Reading: Printmaking in New Mexico, 1880-1990. Clinton Adams. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1991.; Gene Kloss, Fifty Years in Taos. Bill and Gail Bishop. Southwest Art, March, 1975.; The Legendary Artists of Taos. Mary Carroll Nelson. Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1980.

Biography courtesy of David Cook Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/davidcook