Joseph Kleitsch (1883-1931) California School AFTER THE RAIN, VERNON, FRANCE, 1926 26 x 32 inches Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right: “Joseph Kleitsch, Vernon, France, 1926” “Some of the paintings shine like jewels. Look, for example, at the sunlight on old Norman roofs in Vernon, the echoing of strong reds in the muted values of the shadow….a narrow medieval street…..” Los Angeles Times Review of the Kleitsch Homecoming Exhibition, May 13, 1928 at Stendahl Galleries A relentless pursuit of adventure, inspiration and artistic growth led Joseph Kleitsch from Hungary though Europe and Mexico, then on to Chicago and California. Despite success in each place which could have insured ease, Kleitsch always moved on. He never stopped taking chances. Therefore, in 1926, Kleitsch took a sabbatical from his successful Laguna Beach career as a portraitist and plein air painter, to begin a two year sojourn of study in France and Spain. He split most of his time between Vernon, an old Norman town on the Seine, 40 miles northwest of Paris, and the countryside around Giverny, where Monet and other Impressionists had made artistic magic a generation before. Kleitsch had taken quickly to California and its lovely shimmering light. Unlike his fellow plein air artists, however, he had never left genre painting behind to concentrate exclusively on landscape. Street life and city scenes continued to interest him, and many of his best Laguna paintings are of town life and activity. He carried this interest with him to Europe in 1926, painting a group of street scenes which, on his return, brought him a new and even higher level of critical acclaim and recognition. AFTER THE RAIN, VERNON, FRANCE is one of the exceptional city scenes which Kleitsch brought back from Europe. It shows the refinement of brushwork which he developed by studying the post-impressionists, as well as experimentation with a French, rather than a Californian palette. Kleitsch seems fascinated with the complex compositional challenge of the closely packed, multiple rooflines, and the narrow meandering street – features not found in the Laguna Beach of his day. This painting was clearly a favorite of the artist, for despite its exhibition in 1928, there was written on the verso “Not for Sale”. It remained in his estate until the disposition of his works in 1953, when it went to a Midwestern collection. It is indeed one of Kleitsch’s most complex and accomplished works.

click to request more information