Lorna Mills & Great America Bank Donation
FOAPAC #1990.063
Joseph Kleitsch was born in Banad, Hungary and began painting at an early age when he was afforded a scholarship to study art in Budapest, Munich, and Paris. At 17 he was an accomplished portrait artist, painting many prominent citizens in Chicago while studying at the Art Institute. In 1920 he settled in Laguna Beach, where he pursued an Impressionist/Plein-Air style of painting, inspired by the streets and shoreline in and around Laguna Beach. He took frequent trips to the Mission in San Juan Capistrano, Northern California, San Francisco, and Carmel.