Manfred H Kuhnert 

American Artist, Manfred H. Kuhnert was born in 1931 outside the cultural capital of Dresden, son of Franz Joseph & Gertrud Kuhnert.  His mother, Baroness Gertrud Kob Von Urbensteadt was an accomplished artist and graduate of the prestigious Dresden Academy of Fine Art. Under her guidance, she developed his interest and passion for painting at a young age.  Manfred H. Kuhnert was a consummate artist, whose knowledge was solidly grounded in both craft and theory. His complex and intricate sense of color, together with his mastery of line, shape and form unite to create works that arrest the eye.  He was an artist intimately connected with the world in with he painted. His work vividly captured languid days on the California Coast and the serene beauty of The Pacific Ocean which was the inspiration for many of his masterful paintings.  His great skill enabled him to capture elusive moods in his paintings without sentiment, offering a fresh, delightful view of the world...truly a vision of enchantment.  Since 1974, millions of prints based on original artworks by Manfred H. Kuhnert have been published and distributed in 73 countries across the globe.  Mr. Kuhnert founded his eponymous gallery, The Kuhnert Gallery in Los Angeles, California in 1963 with his wife of 58 years, Anna Flynn Kuhnert and exhibited his work at international art expositions across the country. He truely loved art, rarely taking a moment away.  Mr. Kuhnert was a prolific painter, painting in his Laguna Beach studio seven days a week, often without a break, creating thousands of original works throughout his lifetime.  Mr. Kuhnert developed a worlwide fan-base, including collectors from all nations, across the globe.  For 34 years, beginning in 1980, he maintained his studio in Laguna Beach, California.  Inspired by the chiseled light of Laguna Beach, his explorations evolved from traditional “veduta" paintings, charmingly documenting local scenes around him, to paintings that seek to release the dynamic energy of this sublime landscape.  Since 1994 he had given full voice to expressionistic, and ultimately symbolistic works, seeking “harmony in extremis” through complimentary color pairings, negative space & pure forms liberated from a narrative context. Manfred H. Kuhnert continued to paint in his home studio in Laguna Beach until he left us in 2019. 

His daughter, Tara Kuhnert Hotchkis created Hotchkis Gallery as a love letter to her dad, to continue his legacy and share his breathtaking work with a new generation of collectors.