17 Facts About Karl Kasten

Karl Albert Kasten was an American painter, printmaker, and educator, from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Karl Kasten was a student of art from an early age and regularly competed with his older brother Fred in battleship drawing contests.

Karl Kasten attended College of Marin, and he later transferred to UC Berkeley.

Karl Kasten was an editorial cartoonist and Arts Editor for The Daily Californian newspaper.

Karl Kasten enlisted in the US Army following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Karl Kasten was initially assigned to the medical corps but ended up in the engineers corps where his artistic skills were used for camouflage.

Rather than return to his budding career in the Bay Area Karl Kasten chose to establish himself in a new area without ties.

Karl Kasten taught for two years at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor under the chairmanship of Jean Paul Slusser.

Karl Kasten spent three years at SFU where he introduced a printmaking program.

Karl Kasten's paintings are predominantly acrylics on canvas, but he works in watercolor and gouache.

Karl Kasten's collographs are noteworthy for the sensitivity in texture and for the use of insertable parts such as coins and found objects to print a range of colors.

In 1960 Karl Kasten unexpectedly met Willem de Kooning at an art gathering.

The meeting resulted in Karl Kasten inviting de Kooning to the Berkeley campus where he pulled his first lithographs.

Karl Kasten has since lectured widely on the unique tools, technique and genius which de Kooning employed in the two lithographs.

Karl Kasten's 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; Museum of Modern Art, New York City; M H de Young Memorial Museum; Achenback Collection; Musee des Beaux Arts, Rennes; Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, New Zealand; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Karl Kasten retired from teaching in 1983 but his passion for art and learning kept him busy.

Karl Kasten continued to lecture occasionally, paint enthusiastically, and work on his memoirs until his death.