G e n e =K l o s s - - 1 9 0 3 - 1 9 9 6
| Gene Kloss was born Alice Geneva Glasier, in Oakland, California. She studied at the University of California, Berkley (graduating with honors in Art in 1924) and the California School of Fine Art in San Francisco. With the encouragement of her professor, Perham Nahl, she began etching in 1927. In 1925, she had married Phillips Kloss and shortened her name, adopting the masculine form of her middle name so that her work would be viewed with an unprejudiced eye and so she would not be denied entry into exhibitions. That same year she visited Taos. She and Phillips divided their time between Berkley and Taos, hauling her Sturges press each way until settling permanently in Taos in 1945. During the Depression, Kloss was a resident of Taos and made prints for the WPA out of her own studio, there being no graphic workshop in New Mexico. |
She maintained memberships in many art organizations including the Society of American Etchers, the Chicago Society of Etchers, the California Society of Etchers, the California Society of Etchers, the Carmel Art Association, the Prairie Print Makers, the New Mexico Art League, and the Philadelphia Watercolor Club. Kloss was elected an Associate in the National Academy of Design in 1950 and to full Academician in 1972. She received numerous awards for her prints which were included in Fine Prints of the Year and the Art Institute of Chicago, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian Institute, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Dallas Museum, the Oakland Museum, and the Museum of New Mexico in Santa Fe, among others. |
| Rocky Mountain Village - - 1945, Aquatint and Drypoint. Kloss 401. Edition 50. Signed and titled in pencil. Image size 8 3/4 x 12 inches (222 x 305 mm); sheet size 10 13/16 x 15 3/8 inches (275 x 391 mm). A superb, richly inked impression, in warm black ink, on off-white wove paper, with full margins (7/8 to 1 7/8 inches), in excellent condition. $3200. |
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| Pilar - - 1945, Aquatint and Drypoint. Kloss 400. Edition 75. Signed and titled in pencil. Image size 8 7/8 x 12 inches (225 x 305 mm); sheet size 10 5/8 x 15 1/4 inches (270 x 387 mm). A superb, richly inked impression, in dark brown ink, on cream wove paper, with full margins (3/4 to 1 3/4 inches), in excellent condition. $3200. |
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| On the Rocks - - 1946, Etching. Kloss 409. Edition 75. Signed and titled in pencil. Image size 9 7/8 x 12 9/16 inches (251 x 319 mm); sheet size 13 3/4 x 18 1/4 inches (349 x 464 mm). A fine, rich impression, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 7/8 to 3 inches), in excellent condition. Illustrated in Gene Kloss Etchings, Phillips Kloss, Sunstone Press; New Mexico, 1981. $1600. |
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| Riders at Sundown - - 1953, Aquatint and Drypoint. Kloss 451. Edition 75. Signed and titled in pencil. Image size 8 1/4 x 11 7/8 inches (210 x 302 mm); sheet size 11 1/8 x 16 1/2 inches (283 x 419 mm). A superb, richly inked impression, in dark brown ink, on cream wove paper, with full margins (1 1/2 to 2 3/8 inches), in excellent condition. $2300. |
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