Arny Karl
Arny Karl (birth name: Arnold Helmut Karl) (July 31, 1940 - February 15, 2000) was one of the key artists in the early stages of the
Early life
Karl was born in
Commercial art career
To earn a living, Karl found employment in the outdoor advertising industry. In the 1960s, Los Angeles, with its tremendous
Personal life
Arny Karl was married to the teacher Lee Kietz on June 7, 1969. The couple lived in
Artistic education
After an introduction from the billboard painter Bernardo "Barney" Sepulveda, Arny Karl entered the
Lukits, who had been teaching since 1924, was a respected California portrait, landscape and still life painter whose work was popular with the film community. He was an award-winning graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago where he had studied with a host of Parisian- and European-trained painters including Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939), Edmund H. Wuerpel (1866–1947), Edwin Blashfield (1848–1936), Karl Albert Buehr (1866–1952), Wellington J. Reynolds (1865–1949), Richard E. Miller (1875–1943), Charles Webster Hawthorne (1872–1930) and Robert Henri (1865–1929).[8] Lukits passed on the accumulated knowledge he learned in his years at the Washington University School of Fine Arts, Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago to his students, who began by "drawing from the antique" which meant doing charcoal or graphite portraits of marbles and plaster casts of ancient Roman and Greek statuary. These studies taught the students to understand "values" which are the tonal gradations of light and shadow, applicable to working under artificial lighting conditions in the studio or out of doors under the natural light of the sun or moon. Advancement in a traditional atelier is based on mastery rather than an artificial quarter or semester system, so Karl moved from working from plaster casts to simple still life set-ups only after his instructor was satisfied with his work.[9] Eventually he began to work in color, painting still life set-ups under the colored lights that Lukits used to simulate conditions an artist would find out of doors.[10] As the years passed under Lukits' guidance, Karl also began attending Lukits' anatomy and life drawing classes. Karl studied with Lukits for an entire decade while he supported himself in the field of commercial art and he concluded his studies in 1978.[11]
Plein-Air painting career
From the time he was young, Arny Karl had always loved the outdoors and when he entered the atelier of Theodore Lukits, it was the elderly painter's large collection of Plein-Air Pastels that made the deepest impression on him. While Lukits was no longer working out of doors, he explained the techniques he used in his works of the 1920s to Karl and simulated conditions of natural light in his studio for his students.
Professional career
About the time Karl finished his academic studies with Theodore Lukits he began to exhibit his work professionally. He sold his first works to the veteran Los Angeles dealer Howard Morseburg (b. 1924), a relationship that began because of the dealer's long friendship with Thedore Lukits. These early. less mature works were done in oil, "worked up" from his pastel studies. They were brightly colored paintings depicting vivid sunrises and sunsets, broadly painted with little detail. According to Morseburg, because of the intense colors, the paintings did not sell well and after working with Karl for a number of months, the business relationship faded. Karl also began to work with Doug Jones, another veteran dealer who had the Jones Gallery in
It was not until the early 1990s, when he began working with Jeffrey Morseburg, Howard Morseburg's son, that his work began to be exhibited and sold steadily. While he seldom sold his pastel studies early in his professional career, by the mid-1990s, his dealer convinced him that his most personally revealing works were the ones done from nature and that the revival of interest in California Impressionism meant that there was a much greater appreciation for Plein-Air paintings. Morseburg began to market and advertise the works of a number of "Contemporary Plein-Air Painters" with Karl's works advertised and shown along with those of Peter Seitz Adams, Tim Solliday and the aging landscape painter Richard Rackus (b. 1922). Morseburg Galleries also hosted a number of large pastel exhibitions with Karl's work featured prominently. It was from these pastel exhibitions that the collector Sean Sullivan began his collection of pastels of the western American landscape that would later form the core collection for the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. Phoebe Faulkner, one of the premier collectors of the works of contemporary California Impressionists, also purchased many works from Morseburg's exhibitions. In the 1990s, Karl also began to paint medium-sized and large works based on his pastel studies and these works were sold by Morseburg Galleries and exhibited at Jones & Terwilliger Galleries in Carmel, California. Patricia Terwilliger of Jones & Terwilliger, was responsible for the sale of Karl's largest work, a 36 in × 45 in (910 mm × 1,140 mm) painting of the Carmel Coast to a Pacific Grove collector. With Morseburg's help, Karl began to exhibit his work with the revived and strengthened California Art Club and his Plein-Air pastels were included in the annual Gold Medal Exhibition as well as the museum shows Treasures of the Sierra Madre and the ecologically-themed exhibition California Wetlands both originating at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Late career and posthumous recognition
By the late 1990s, Karl began to experience health problems and was diagnosed with an advanced case of
Assessment and oeuvre
Arny Karl's professional career was relatively short, no more than twenty years. In that time Jeffrey Morseburg, his dealer and fellow student of Theodore Lukits, estimates that he painted about 400-500 plein-air Pastels and about 100-150 oil paintings, so his artistic oeuvre was very limited. He was famously eccentric and difficult, so relationships with dealers were seldom steady. According to Morseburg's essays, Karl's earliest pastel works from the late 1960s and early 1970s were "blocky" with bold strokes of color. As his pastel works matured, the strokes of pastels became almost imperceptible, as he began to "paint" with his fingers. Karl's pastel works of the mid-1990s consisted primarily of foothill scenes, often of California Oaks or Eucalyptus.[19] Some of his later pastel works could be quite detailed, in spite of the artist's eye problems. Sierra Autumn, Big Sur Overlook and Mono Lake, all of which were shown in public exhibitions, are all examples of these detailed pastels. Karl's early works in oil were thinly painted, with little impasto and boldly colored, evidently too boldly for many collector's tastes. His later oils could be more thinly painted or thickly brushed examples of California Impressionism.[20] Most of these works relied on imprecise brushwork and were painted in a cool palette. Scenes of the Central California Coast and the High Sierras predominated in the works of Karl's last decade. Art authorities such as Michael Tomor, former Chief Curator of the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art or art curator Jeffrey Morseburg, describe Karl as a "romantic" or "lyrical" painter because of his "moody" subjects and curvilinear compositions. In his 1999 exhibition catalog Tomor stated that "Jeffrey Morseburg, Lukits' biographer, believes Karl to be inspired by Lukits' pastels as well as the works of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) and J. M. W. Turner (1775-1841). His Blue Moment and Pink Moments, plein-air pastels of the Sierra Mountains, convey the sublime and awe inspiring aspects of nature."[21] While Karl's artistic oeuvre was small, because of his influence on a number of younger painters, strident advocacy of plein-air painting and the pastel medium and presence in several important public and private collections his influence is still being felt.
See also
- California Art Club
- California Plein-Air Painting
- American Impressionism
- California Tonalism
- Tonal Impressionism
- Decorative Impressionism
- Theodore Lukits
- Peter Seitz Adams
- Tim Solliday
Notable works
Museum exhibitions
- From Charles Burchfield to Peter Adams: Watercolors and Pastels from the Permanent Collection Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, Pennsylvania, March 21 - Sept 14, 2008; exhibited: Pink Moment, Blue Moment, San Gabriel Peaks
- Contemporary Romanticism: Landscapes in Pastel, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, Pennsylvania, April 4 - May 30, 1999; exhibited: Pink Moment, Blue Moment, San Gabriel Peaks
- Treasures of the Sierra Madre, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, May 28 - August 30, 1998; Muckenthaller Cultural Center, Fullerton, California, September 12 - October 30, 1998
- California Wetlands: Paintings of California Endangered Species and Protected Wetlands, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, April 13 - September 1, 1996; exhibited: Mono Lake
- 86th Annual California Art Club Gold Medal Exhibition, Arcadia, California, Spring 1996; exhibited: Windswept Sierras
- 88th Annual California Art Club Gold Medal Exhibition, Arcadia, California, June 14–22, 1998; exhibited: Sierra Autumn and Big Sur Overlook
History of professional representation
- Estate Representation, Jeffrey Morseburg, 2000–present
- Morseburg Galleries, West Hollywood & Los Angeles, California, c. 1990–2000
- Jones and Terwilliger Galleries. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, c. 1994
- Trailside Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, c. 1982–1985
- Jones Gallery, La Jolla, California, c. 1980–1990
- Howard Morseburg Galleries, Los Angeles, California, 1980–1985
Notes
- ^ Michael Tomor, Contemporary Romanticism: Landscapes in Pastel Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art exhibition catalog, 1999
- ^ Sources for Lukits' Plein-Air pastels include Suzanne Bellah's The Plein-Air Pastels of Theodore Lukits (1991) and Jeffrey Morseburg's Theodore Lukits, The Jonathan Club Collection (2010).
- ^ Jeffrey Morseburg, Arny Karl, biographical essay, Arny Karl.Org
- ^ See Clear Channel web site
- ^ Jeffrey Morseburg, Arny Karl, Ask Art Artist Summary Biographies
- ^ California Death Index, Social Security Administration.
- ^ Peter Seitz Adams describes Lukits studio practices in the exhibition catalog for The Pastels of Theodore Lukits (1991)
- ^ Lukits own training is covered in Theodore Lukits:An American Orientalist (1998) as well as on the Theodore Lukits.Org web site
- ^ These are standard French atelier practices as elevation was based on mastering a technique not in time spent, thus a talented student could advance rapidly.
- ^ Peter Adams discusses Lukits more unusual studio practices in his essay in Pastels of Theodore Lukits Carnegie Art Museum exhibition catalog in his essay "Recollections" p.4-5 (1991). The colored lights may have originated with his teacher Carl Werntz in Chicago.
- ^ See Jeffrey Morseburg's essays on Arny Karl.Org Web Site
- ^ There are numerous sources for Lukits' Plein-Air career, see Suzanne Bellah's The Plein-Air Pastels of Theodore Lukits (1991) and Jeffrey Morseburg's Theodore Lukits, The Jonathan Club Collection (2010).
- ^ See Jeffrey Morseburg, Arny Karl: A Critical Assessment found on Ask Art web site and Arny Kar.Org
- ^ See Jeffrey Morseburg, Arny Karl, A Critical Analysis, Ask Art Web Site, Artist's Summary.
- ^ Jones Gallery was located on Prospect Avenue in downtown La Jolla in the 1960s through the 1980s. There is now only a web site that has listed works by Karl.
- ^ Jeffrey Morseburg, The Color of Mood, The Plein-Air Pastels of Anry Karl .
- ^ Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art Web Site, Recent Acquisitions
- ^ SAMA web site press release for From Charles Burchfield to Peter Adams, 2008, PDF of exhibition catalog
- ^ Jeffrey Morseburg, The Landscapes of Arny Karl, A Critical Assessment, 2000 . This essay is available at Ask Art and other online locations.
- ^ Jeffrey Morseburg, The Landscapes of Arny Karl, a Critical Assessment, 2000 ,
- ^ Michael Tomor, Contemporary Romanticism
References
- Merrell, Eric, Historic Artists of the California Art Club, 2010 Online Biographies
- Rice, Ruth, Melding Two Into One, Art Exhibition Combines Pastels and Watercolors, The Tribune Democrat, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, April 8, 2008 (Article on Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art Exhibition, From Charles Burchfield to Peter Adams with Karl's works)
- Morseburg, Jeffrey, The Color of Mood: The Pastel Landscapes of Arny Karl, 2005 Exhibition Catalog Essay
- Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson, The Artist's Bluebook, 2005
- Morseburg, Jeffrey, Theodore Lukits: An American Orientalist, Exhibition Catalog, Pacific Asia Museum, 1998
- Bellah, Suzanne, The Pastels of Theodore Lukits, Exhibition Catalog, Carnegie Museum, Oxnard, California, 1991
- Morseburg, Jeffrey, Arny Karl, Biography for the Art Dictionary, Ask Art, 2004
- Morseburg, Jeffrey, The Landscapes of Arny Karl, a Critical Assessment, 2000
- Social Security Administration, California Death Index, 2000
- Tomor, Michael, Contemporary Romanticism: Landscapes in Pastel, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, April 4 - May 30, 1999, Exhibition Catalog
- Zilmer, Rolf, California Art Club 87th Annual Gold Medal Exhibition, 1997, Exhibition Checklist
- Southwest Art, Redbook, Artist's Price Guide, Western American Art, 1997
- U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2
External links
- Website of Arny Karl
- Arny Karl's Summary Page on Ask Art, Online Art Dictionary
- California Art Club, Roster of Historic Artists
- California Art Club, Gold Medal Exhibitions, 88th Annual Show, Arcadia, California
- Traditional Fine Arts Online: Contemporary Romanticism, Landscapes in Pastel, April 4- May 30, 1999, Preview of Exhibition at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art
- Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Museum Press release, SAMA-Loretto to Display Works from the Permanent Collection, 2008
- Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, 2008 Annual Review
- California Art Club, Special Exhibitions, Treasures of the Sierra Nevada and California Wetlands, Exhibitions
- America's Distinguished Artist's, TFAOI.Org
- Website devoted to Theodore Lukits, Karl's Teacher and Mentor Archived 2021-09-17 at the Wayback Machine
- Morseburg Galleries (Karl's Longtime Dealer) website
- Los Angeles Times Article Listing Karl's Work on Exhibition at Morseburg Galleries
- Pastel Society of America Website