Karl Kasten
Karl Albert Kasten | |
---|---|
Born | March 5, 1916 San Francisco, California, U.S. |
Died | May 3, 2010 | (aged 94)
Nationality | American |
Education | California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Polytechnic High School College of Marin UC Berkeley |
Known for | Painting |
Karl Albert Kasten (March 5, 1916 – May 3, 2010) was an American painter, printmaker, and educator, from the San Francisco Bay Area.[1][2][3]
Early life
Kasten, fourth child of Ferdinand Kasten and his wife Barbara Anna Kasten, grew up in San Francisco's Richmond District.[4] He was a student of art from an early age and regularly competed with his older brother Fred in battleship drawing contests[vague]. Fred eventually gave up[when?] but Karl continued. At times, Kasten's art seemingly got in the way of his schoolwork and his sixth grade teacher was driven to send a note home: "Dear Mr. Kasten, Do something about your son. All he wants to do is draw. He's not paying attention in school" Fortunately, his father sent a note back to the teacher: "Let him draw."[4]
The same year, with financial help from his older brother Fred, Karl furthered his artistic advancement at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) and his explorations of art continued from there.[4] Following his graduation from San Francisco Polytechnic High School, Kasten pursued an education in fine art.
Education
Kasten attended College of Marin, and he later transferred to UC Berkeley. His early mentors came from the "Berkeley School" - John Haley, Erle Loran, Margaret Peterson and Worth Ryder. Following the mode of the "Berkeley School" Kasten painted landscapes with flat planes punctuated with color. His work from this period earned him recognition and prizes in annual painting competitions held at the San Francisco Museum Of Art (now MOMA).[5]
Kasten was also an editorial cartoonist and Arts Editor for
World War II
Kasten enlisted in the U.S. Army following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Kasten was initially assigned to the medical corps but ended up in the engineers corps where his artistic skills were used for camouflage. After Officer Candidate School he was deployed to England to serve with the 295th Engineer Combat Battalion.
Educator
After the war, Kasten continued with his art education. Rather than return to his budding career in the Bay Area Kasten chose to establish himself in a new area without ties. He taught for two years (1946-1947) at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor under the chairmanship of Jean Paul Slusser. Ultimately the Michigan winters drove his return to the Bay Area where he again took an assistant professor of art position at the San Francisco State University. He spent three years at SFU (1949-1950) where he introduced a printmaking program. During the summer of 1949 he studied modern etching techniques and printmaking with Lasansky at the University of Iowa. The following year he was offered a professorship UC Berkeley which he was to hold until 1983. "That was Nirvana" he said. "My greatest satisfaction is that I was a pretty good teacher."[4]
Painting and printing
In the early 1950s Kasten experimented with Cubism and non-objective painting but after studying at the
Kasten's paintings are predominantly
In addition to his wide record of painting exhibitions, Karl Kasten is known worldwide as a master printer. In 1950, he established the Printmaking program and a course in Materials and Techniques at UC Berkeley. Kasten's aim and underlying credo with the courses was that printmaking could equal traditional painting through creative exploration. After viewing his colorful etchings of the 1950s, art critic Alfred Frankenstein observed that Kasten had "discovered a new softness, liquidity, and fluency of effect in the bitten plate and with this a new way of expressing the modern artist's preoccupation with space and movement." Susan Landauer recognized Kasten in her monograph Breaking Type: The Art of Karl Kasten, with one or two exceptions 'there were few examples of serious printmaking among Abstract Expressionists in New York.' Kasten has also been recognized for his printing accomplishments with the 1997 Distinguished Artist award of the California Society of Printmakers, the Humanities Research Fellowship and Tamarind Lithography Fellowship. David Acton refers to Kasten succinctly as "the dean of Bay Area printmaking."[4]
In 1960 Kasten unexpectedly met Willem de Kooning at an art gathering. The meeting resulted in Kasten inviting de Kooning to the Berkeley campus where he pulled his first lithographs. Kasten has since lectured widely on the unique tools, technique and genius which de Kooning employed in the two lithographs.
In the 1970s, he designed a lightweight press (The KB Press) in conjunction with the Berglin Corporation that can now be found in schools and studios around the world.
Collections
Kasten has exhibited in the São Paulo Bicentennial and World Print III Traveling Show, as well as the M. H. de Young Museum and [[California Palace of the Legion of H
His works are in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Oakland Art Museum; San Jose Museum of Art; New York Public Library;
Texts dealing with his work include "Etching" by L. Edmondson, 1973; "Modern Woodcut Techniques" by A. Kurasaki, 1977; "The California Style", by G. McClelland and J. Last, 1985; "Breaking Type, The Art of Karl Kasten" by Susan Landauer.
Kasten retired from teaching in 1983 but his passion for art and learning kept him busy. He continued to lecture occasionally, paint enthusiastically, and work on his memoirs until his death. He also continued to draw.
References
- ^ Maclay, Kathleen (2022). "Painter, printmaker Karl Kasten dies at age 94". Berkeley News. UC Berkeley. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
- ^ Stiles, Knute (1971-05-01). "Karl Kasten". Artforum. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
- ^ Monte, James (1962-11-01). "Karl Kasten". Artforum. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
- ^ a b c d e f g John O'Hara - The Chronicle 11-22-2002
- ^ "Breaking of Type, The Art of Karl Kasten", Susan Landauer 1999
- ^ http://lct376.org/us295th/us295th_Roster.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Erin Clark. "Karl Kasten". Artworks Magazine. Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- ^ Kaul (2005), p.169–174
- ^ Tate Collection | Hans Hofmann