Harold Gretzner
1902 - 1977
For over thirty years, he followed a routine. In the predawn morning, providing the weather cooperated, he would wake up and drive toward his workplace in San Francisco. Somewhere along the way, he would stop and paint a watercolor, usually depicting a cityscape or harbor view. He was exclusively a watercolorist and worked only with transparent paints. His style featured a controlled wet-into-wet approach, inspired by his close friend and painting partner, Maurice Logan.
Harold Gretzner was a prolific painter and exhibited from the 1930s to 1970s. He was a member of the Thirteen Watercolorists, and became a founding member of the West Coast Watercolor Society. On the East Coast, exhibited in the annual American Watercolor Society shows. Unfortunately a large number of Gretzner’s watercolors were destroyed in a fire that swept through Oakland, California.
For most of his life, Gretzner worked as a commercial lithographer in San Francisco. After retiring from this job in the 1960s, he continued painting and taught small groups of advanced students in the Oakland area.
Biographical information:
Interview with Teckla Gretzner, 1983.
Biography courtesy of California Watercolors 1850-1970,
©2002 Hillcrest Press, Inc.
Courtesy of CaliforniaWatercolor.com
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