Joseph Kleitsch

(1882-1931)

Problematicus 60 x 55in framed 66 x 61in

Footnotes

Provenance
Ed Colby's Antique Shop, San Clemente, California.
Jerome D. Adamson, Jr., Adamson-Duvannes Galleries, Los Angeles.
Private collection, Laguna Beach, California, purchased from the above, August 16, 1985.

Exhibited
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 22nd Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, February 14 – March 17, 1918, no. 196.
Philadelphia, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Chicago, The Palette and Chisel Club exhibitions (member).
Los Angeles, Biltmore Galleries.
Los Angeles, Stendahl-Hatfield Galleries, Ambassador Hotel, 1925, no. 48, and May 1928, no. 48.
Mexico Art Institute.
Des Moines, Iowa.
Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Memorial Exhibition, May 1933, no. 28.
Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Southern California Artists 1890-1940, July 10 - August 28, 1979.
Laguna Beach, Laguna Art Museum; Sacramento, Crocker Art Museum; Memphis, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Montclair, New Jersey, Montclair Art Museum, California Light 1900 - 1930, traveling exhibition, 1990 – 1991.

Literature
Fine Arts Journal, The Art of Joseph Kleitsch by the Editors, June 1919.
Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Southern California Artists 1890-1940, Laguna Beach, 1979, illustrated in color, p. 121.
P. Trenton and W. Gerdts, California Light 1900 – 1930, Laguna Beach, 1990, illustrated in color, p. 142, pl. 149.
P. Trenton, Joseph Kleitsch, A Kaleidoscope of Color, Irvine, 2007, illustrated in color, p. 87, pl. 61.

Joseph Kleitsch immigrated to the United States from Banat, Hungary (now Romania) after the turn of the twentieth century, in 1902. After establishing himself as a highly sought-after-portrait painter in Chicago, he moved to California in 1920 and became strongly identified with that state, particularly the town of Laguna Beach. His career fully blossomed during the Golden Twenties, a prosperous period of consumerism and innovation that was cut short by the devastating Depression years. These tumultuous changes in a relatively short period of time in American history affected Kleitsch as well as other Americans.

In addition to painting commissioned portraits, Kleitsch was a prolific landscape and figurative painter. He was unique among his fellow California artists in terms of the diversity of subjects, his openness to various forms of creative expression, his intensity, and his eagerness to preserve a visual record of the remarkable historic sites of his adopted state. In 1931, just before Kleitsch's sudden death, Southern California art critic Sonia Wolfson offered insight into his ever-changing moods and artistic approaches: "[He] is the most perverse person I ever met. Artistically and personally. He's the despair of the art dealers, the bane of the reviewer. He cannot be labeled, classified, pigeon-holed or otherwise definitely and securely rubber-stamped, which is to his credit. . . . Because of his perversity, which spells diversity, he gives infinite joy" (Topics of the Town, April 19, 1931).

Problematicus is one of the exceptional portraits he painted in Chicago, in 1918. When this painting was exhibited at the Art Institute's Twenty-Second Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity in 1918, reviewer Lena McCauley singled it out as one of "the figure paintings to be remembered" (Chicago Evening Post, February 19, 1918). Enveloped in yellow luminosity, the figure seems lost in contemplation of a picture on the easel, most likely of herself. Perhaps she is puzzled by the artist's treatment of the subject, given the title assigned? Typical of several paintings of this period, Kleitsch has used backlighting that flows through the amber-colored window shade to create a mood and cast highlights on her body, recalling the influence of Vermeer and other Dutch artists. The close tonal values of gold and gray-blue give the work an elusive, poetic quality, and the colorful decorative patterning and contemporary design of the rug seem to recall the influence of Matisse. The textured gray-blue wall offsets the decorative patterning of the rug and creates a backdrop for the figure. Much later, in Kleitsch's California paintings, a cascade of color and decoration would become his hallmark.

Edward Maeder has written about the costume in Problematicus: "It appears to be a typical dress of the period, which probably has an over-panel of embroidery that falls from the shoulders, is held in place at the waist (both in front and back). The apparently transparent over-sleeves are typical of the period. One of the most interesting aspects is her hair. It is Greek in inspiration, with the swept-back look and the modified almost 'bun-like' knot at the back. One finds it in photographs, graphics, advertisements . . . in fact, everywhere! The tip of her shoe that protrudes looks to be a similar color to the under-sleeves. The shoe is most likely satin but metalicized leather shoes were also popular at this time. It was a revival from the 1870." (Edward Maeder is the foremost costume historian in the country and was formerly at Deerfield Historic Museum and LACMA in Los Angeles)

We are grateful to Patricia Trenton, Ph.D. for her assistance in writing this essay.