Gene Kloss

Born in Oakland, California as Alice Geneva Glasier, Gene Kloss adopted a shorted, masculine version of her middle name in order to access opportunities in the male-dominated art world. A prominent Southwest artist and etcher, she is best known for her interpretations of the New Mexico landscape.

She became famous during her lifetime for her prints, winning accolades such as Fine Prints of the Year and 100 Best Prints of the Year. From the outset of her career in the Bay Area, her prints were popular with both collectors and critics. She exhibited regularly at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1938 her work was exhibited in Paris alongside New Mexico artists Georgia O'Keeffe and Ernest Blumenschein.

Kloss' first visit to New Mexico was in 1925. She and her husband travelled to Taos, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces for their honeymoon. They soon began spending summers in New Mexico, and settled permanently in Taos in 1945.