This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Abstract painter and printmaker Karl Kasten was born in San Francisco in 1916. While he studied at the California School of Fine Arts, Kasten received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in art at the University of California, Berkeley. As an undergraduate, he served as Art Editor for the Daily Californian, and designed the card stunts for the 1938 Rose Bowl game. He later studied with abstract painter Hans Hofmann.
Kasten began working primarily with paintings and pastels but by the early 1950s he was dividing his time with printmaking. His paintings, quite abstract in style, worked with geometric forms and texture seemingly referring to landscape. In collagraph prints, he developed a way of printing a multi-colored image on a single run through an etching press.
Kasten began his teaching career at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) in 1941. He served as a captain in World War II (in 1996 he was given the medal of the city of Rennes, France for his service in Europe).
Following the war, he taught at the University of Michigan and at San Francisco State University, where he initiated the printmaking program. In 1950, he began teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also started the printmaking department. He became Professor Emeritus there in 1983.
Kasten was a pioneer of printmaking materials and techniques. In the early 70's, he conceived of a better idea for an etching press. "If," he said, " one could use the principle of a fulcrum to increase the printing pressure between rollers, then the result would be a machine that was more accurate and rigid, requiring less hand strength to accomplish the same task." Kasten made a crude press using welded angle-iron. It worked.
In 1976, Kasten met Scott Berglin, president of Berglin Corporation, East Wenatchee Washington. Kasten/Berglin presses now exist in schools, studios and homes of private artists, all over the world.
Kasten exhibited in the Sao Paulo Bicentennial and World Print III Traveling Show, as well as the M.H. de Young Museum and California Palace of the Legion of Honor, both in San Francisco; Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, among others.
His works are in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Oakland Art Museum; New York Public Library; Museum of Modern Art, New York City; M.H. de Young Museum; Achenbach Collection; Musee des Beaux Arts, Rennes; Musee des Beaux Arts, Brittany, France; Auckland City Museum, New Zealand; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
In 1997, he received the Distinguished Artist award of the California Society of Etchers. He is also a recipient of a Humanities Research Fellowship and Tamarind Lithography Fellowship.
Kasten lives and works in Berkeley. He has written a series of essays, with intended publication as a memoir to be titled War and Art, 1987-1997. Three video tapes dealing with his work have been published by the North Light Studio, Elk, California.
Sources include:
Les Krantz, American Artists, Illustrated Survey of Leading Contemporary Artists
trocadero.com
appliedarts.com
mcn.org/a/mendoart/ae/June97/karl.html
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Born in San Francisco, CA on March 5, 1916. Kasten began his art training at the CSFA, continued at Marin College, UC Berkeley (M.A.), Iowa State University, and the Hans Hofmann School of Art. In 1941 he taught briefly at the CSFA until drafted into the Army in WWII. After the war he taught at the University of Michigan, San Francisco State College (1947-50), and UC Berkeley (1950-83). Included in his works are collographs and paintings in watercolor and acrylic. He is also the designer of the K-B etching press. Kasten is now living in Berkeley. Member: Berkeley Art Center Ass'n; Calif. Society of PM (pres.); SFAA. Exh: SFAA, 1939-53 (awards); AIC, 1946; MM, 1950, 1952; SFMA, 1951; Whitney Museum, 1952; Oakland Museum, 1954; De Young Museum, 1955 (solo); NW PM, 1955; Colorado Springs FA Center, 1955; San Jose Public Library, 1955 (solo); Sacramento State College, 1956 (solo); Univ. of Illinois, 1956; Calif. Painters (Long Beach), 1956; Calif. State Fair, 1956; Richmond Art Center, 1957 (award); Denver Museum, 1958; CPLH, 1959 (solo). In: Pasadena Museum; Mills College (Oakland); NY Public Library; Oakland Museum; UC Berkeley; U.S. State Dept.; Victoria & Albert Museum; Oakland Post Office; MOMA; SFMA | Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
Who's Who in American Art 1959-70; Interview with the artist or his/her family. | | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
Biography from Westbrook Galleries:
|  Karl Kasten was born in San Francisco in 1916. Karl received his A.B. and M.A. degrees in art at the University of California, Berkeley and was a student of Hans Hoffman in 1952 in Provincetown. Susan Landauer who authored San Francisco and the Second Wave: The Blair Collection of Bay Area of Abstract Expressionism is quoted that Kasten was the artist who most successfully absorbed Hofmann's teachings.
Kasten began his teaching career at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) in 1941. He served as a decorated captain in World War II . Following the war, he taught at the University of Michigan under the chairmanship of J.P. Slusser. Moving back to California in 1947, he took a teaching position at San Francisco State University, where he pioneered the program in printmaking. During the summer of '49 he studied modern etching techniques and printmaking with Lasansky at the University of Iowa. The following year he was offered a professorship at UC Berkeley, where he also introduced the program in printmaking and the study of art materials and techniques. He continued his career at Berkely until 1983 when he became Professor Emeritus.
In the early '50s Kasten experimented with Cubism and non-objective painting but after studying at the Hans Hofmann School in Provincetown, Mass in '51 he turned to Abstract Expressionism. Hoffman’s modern art philosophy stressed "pictorial structure, spatial illusion, and colour relationships. In her biography of the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism Susan Landauer noted Kasten as the artist who came closest to these tenets. Kasten said, "It was a great period to work in. Just letting things flow and seeing what happens... I think I got more color into painting during that time than most guys."
In 1960 Kasten unexpectedly met Willem De Kooning at an art gathering. Kasten invited 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.
Karl has exhibited at the de Young Museum, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of Art among others. His work in painting and printmaking is in major public and private collections internationally, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Musee des Beaux Arts in Brittany, The Oakland Art Museum, New York Public Library, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, and Auckland City Museum in New Zealand, and others.
In 2008, Karl continues paint vigorously, and he is currently writing a series of personal memoirs.
Sources include:
Landauer, Susan. San Francisco and the Second Wave: The Blair Collection of Bay Area of Abstract Expressionism
Additional Information courtesy of the artist.
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Biography from Gerald Sauer Fine Art:
| Karl Kasten was born in San Francisco in 1916. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and was a student of Hans Hofmann in 1952 in Provincetown. He is known for his Abstract Expressionist paintings in the 50s and 60s as well as his hard-edge paintings of the 60s and 70s. He was also a print maker and the designer of his own printing press.
He taught at the California School of Fine Art, Un. of Michigan, SF State College and at UC Berkeley from 1950-1983 where he is Professor Emeritus. He exhibited at the de Young Museum, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Art Institute of Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of Art among others. Most recently his work appeared at the Blair Collection of Bay Area Abstract Expressionism at the Crocker Museum of Art in Sacramento in May of 2004.
Susan Landauer, the biographer of the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism, considered Kasten the artist who came closest to the tenets of Hans Hoffman. His works are held by San Francisco Museum of Art, Oakland Art Museum, NY Museum of Modern Art, de Young Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum among others. |
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