Joseph Kleitsch

Joseph Kleitsch (1885-1931) was an American painter who holds a high place in the early California School of Impressionism. Born in Banad, Hungary on June 6th, 1885, young Joseph Kleitsch was drawn to paint at the early age of seven, he later pursued his professional art training at Budapest, Munich and Paris. Influenced by his visits to the famous museums of Europe, Kleitsch continued with his love of portrait and figuritive painting after relocating to California. There he rose to the challenge of capturing his new environment's brilliant light and diverse landscape. Living in Los Angeles for a while, Kleitsch fell in love with the rustic artist village of Laguna Beach. There he painted the town's eucalyptus lined streets, the crashing waves of the Pacific coastline and the nearby Mission San Juan Capistrano. Arthur Millier of the Los Angeles Times in 1922 was quoted saying of Kleitsch "he was a born colorist; he seemed to play on canvas with the abandon of a gypsy violinist". Joseph Kleitsch died at the age of forty-nine in Santa Ana, California on November 16th, 1931.

Professional Memberships

*Chicago Society of Artists
*Laguna Beach Art Association
*Painters' & Sculptors' Club
*Palette & Chisel Club of Chicago.

Galleries and Museums

* [http://www.irvinemuseum.org/ Irvine Museum, Irvine California]
*Fleischer Museum, Scottsdale, Arizona
* [http://www.lagunaartmuseum.org/ Laguna Art Museum]

Awards

*Gold Medal, Art Institute of Chicago 1914;
*Silver Medal, Painters' and Sculptors' Club;
*Grand Prize & Figure Prize, Laguna Beach Art Association

Sources

*Los Angeles Times Archives,
*Literature: "Plein Air Painters of the Southland", by Ruth Lily Westphal, 1996;
*Literature: "Artists in California, 1786-1940", by Edan Milton Hughes, 1989