'Sunny Afternoon, Summer Cottages' by Ken Christensen, 1989, Louvre, École Des Beaux-Arts, Michigan State

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Signed lower right, 'K. Christensen' for Ken Christensen (American, born 1951) and dated, verso, 1989; additionally signed, verso, and titled, … Read more Signed lower right, 'K. Christensen' for Ken Christensen (American, born 1951) and dated, verso, 1989; additionally signed, verso, and titled, 'Summer Cottages in Bold Colors'.

Ken Christensen is a classically trained, on-site landscape painter with influences deriving from the Fauves and the French Impressionists. He seeks to combine the vision, color and verve of such masters as Vlaminck, Marquet and Derain with the cooler American perspective of Hopper and Benton.

Born in Cincinnati and raised in Flint, Michigan, Christensen attended Michigan State University where he graduated with a B.A. in History in 1974. He was also part of an overseas study program at Bedford College, London and attended the University of Manchester in England for a full year. After college, Christensen settled in Michigan, where he followed a career as a freelance artist and writer.

His early projects included postcards of historic sites in the area, Christmas cards, advertising illustrations, art fairs, and the occasional group exhibit. During this time, Christensen attended art classes at Northern Michigan College. In 1980, he moved back to London and remained in Europe for the following nine years, settling in Paris for five years where he attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts and was also an official copyist at the Louvre Museum. During this time, Christensen had two one-man shows in Paris as well as St. Tropez where a book of his watercolors, 'St. Tropez, Notes et Croquis de Voyages', was published in 1984. He also had two solo shows in Ivrea, Italy. In 1986, he moved to San Sebastian, Spain, where he continued to paint and also taught English part time at a private academy. While in Spain, he met his wife and they moved to Hyeres, France.

In the summer of 1988, the Christensens returned to America, living seasonally in Michigan and New Mexico. During this period, Christensen opened a studio and gallery in Oden, Michigan, where he exhibited his own work and and the work of other artists with success. He has also continued teaching art, both at North Central Michigan College, at the McCune Art Center and in private workshops. See less