Gene Kloss
(1903-1996) Gene Kloss arrived in Taos in 1925 while on a camping honeymoon trip with her husband, poet-composer Phillip Kloss. Ms. Kloss brought with her very little other than her 60-pound etching press. From that time until the 40s, Kloss spent most of the year in Taos and wintered in Berkeley, until she and her husband settled permanently in New Mexico. Kloss was born in Oakland, California in 1903 and established her reputation on the West Coast in the 20s and 30s with several one-woman shows of paintings and etchings in San Francisco and elsewhere. Her reputation spread across the nation through her participation in highly successful group shows. Art News wrote, "Gene Kloss is one of our most sensitive and sympathetic interpreters of the Southwest." One critic called her a "landscape mythic," another a "portrait psychologist," but perhaps the highest praise came from a Taos Indian who said on looking at one of her etchings of a pueblo interior, "Yes, that is the way it was that night at our house." Kloss worked predominantly in three media – etching, oil, and watercolor – but is best known for her prints of New Mexico subjects.
