Before his death on November 16, 1943, Karl Kappes was fond of saying: "The Chinese have a saying that no man is an artist until he has painted 10,000 pictures. I am an artist."

Charles A. Kappes - he changed his name to Karl when he went to Munich to study in 1883 - was born in Zanesville, Ohio, May 28, 1861, the son of John Jacob and Elizabeth (Foerster) Kappes. Having had an interest in drawing since his early youth, Karl initially took lessons while in high school from Charles Craig, a local artist, whom he later recalled as a fine teacher and a likeable person. Soon after his graduation in 1879, Kappes enrolled at the McMicken School of Design in Cincinnati. After a short term there he left for New York City to study with Willia...