Gene Kloss arrived in Taos in 1925. Born in Oakland, California in 1903 Kloss had established her reputation on West Coast in the 1920s and 1930s with several shows of her paintings and etchings. Her reputation spread across the nation through her participation in highly successful group shows. Art News wrote, “Gene Kloss is one of our most sensitive and sympathetic interpreters of the Southwest.” One critic called her a “landscape mythic,” another a “portrait psychologist.” Kloss worked predominantly in three media – etching, oil, and watercolor – but is best known for her prints of New Mexico subjects.