Born in Paris France, Emil Kosa Jr. was a prolific and widely recognized painter of California landscapes, cityscapes, figures and florals. The son of artist Emil Kosa Sr, he emigrated with his family from Czechoslovakia to the United States in 1907. As a teenager, he returned to Europe to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. In the late 1920s, he settled a home and studio in Los Angeles, where he studied and taught at the Otis and Chouinard Art Institutes. In the 1930s, he began a thirty-five year career as a special effects artist for Twentieth Century Fox studios, and in 1964, won an Oscar for the movie, Cleopatra. He continually remained active as a watercolor and oil painter, helping create the "California Style", devoted to painting regional subjects. He was active in the Laguna Beach community as an art teacher, and an elected member of the National Academy of Design. Source: Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940.
6th Street Bridge, Los Angeles
The Sidewalk Sermon
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