Mary-Austin Klein (born 1964 in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino ( ) is a city in and the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 census, making it the List of ...

) is an American landscape painter best known for her small-scaled and highly detailed paintings of the southwestern United States. Klein's work continues the Impressionist tradition of early California fine artists like

William Wendt William Wendt (February 20, 1865, Bentzen, Kingdom of Prussia – December 29, 1946, Laguna Beach) was a German-born United States, American landscape Painting, painter. He was called the "Dean of Southern California landscape painters." *Bronze ...

and George Gardner who explored the west at the behest of the

Southern Pacific Railroad Company The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

, exchanging paintings for rides. Like these early California artists, Klein’s oil paintings celebrate the bright, colorful light of the southwest. In his blog, ''Made in Frogtown'', the artist and former newsman William Lagattuta notes her “''ability to''... ''reduce enormous, powerful landscapes into small, extraordinarily detailed paintings”''. The paintings often include evidence of man’s impact on these landscapes, documenting the changing environment and the fragility of the ecosystem. Her work has been exhibited internationally, as part of the traveling show “California Dreaming: An International Portrait of Southern California” and has been shown at the

Riverside Art Museum Riverside Art Museum is an art museum in the historic Mission Inn District of Riverside, California. The museum is a non-profit organization which focuses on addressing social issues and offers art classes as well as other events in order to in ...

, the

Oceanside Museum of Art Oceanside Museum of Art is a fine arts museum in Oceanside, California. It began holding exhibits in 1995, with a dedicated facility opening on October 6, 1997. The museum is housed in two buildings designed by Irving Gill and Frederick Fisher, m ...

, the

Bakersfield Museum of Art The Bakersfield Museum of Art is an art museum, in Bakersfield, California. It is located in Central Park, on the corner of 19th St. and R St. It has four galleries, which contains a permanent collection mainly from regional artists, as well as r ...

and the Santa Paula Art Museum. Collectors include artists

Wayne Thiebaud Wayne Thiebaud ( ; born Morton Wayne Thiebaud; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, cakes, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot d ...

and Alma Allen, Nicole Panter, Adam Blackman,

Dan Greaney Daniel Greaney is an American television writer. He has written for ''The Simpsons'' and ''The Office''. He was hired during ''The Simpsons'' seventh season after writing the first draft of the episode " King-Size Homer", but left after season e ...

Jenji Kohan Jenji Leslie Kohan (born July 5, 1969) is an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the creator and showrunner of the Showtime comedy-drama series ''Weeds'' and the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black''. S ...

and

Christopher Noxon Christopher Lane Noxon (born November 21, 1968) is an American writer and freelance journalist. Early life Noxon was born in Los Angeles, California, to National Geographic documentary filmmaker father, Nicolas Noxon, and Mary Straley. His ...

. Los Angeles band I See Hawks In L.A. featured a song named for Klein’s signature painting style entitled “Mary-Austin Sky” on their 2012 CD "A New Kind of Lonely".

Footnotes

“Review of Into the Blue”, by Liz Goldner, ArtScene, June 2016 “I See Mary-Austin Skies in LA” by William Lagattuta, Made in Frogtown Blog, August 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Mary-Austin 1964 births Living people 21st-century American painters 21st-century American women painters