William J. Kaula

American (1871-1952)

A native of Boston, William J. Kaula (1871-1953) began his artistic career as a student at the Boston Normal Art School and the Cowles Art School, where he worked as a watercolor instructor while pursuing his studies. Kaula furthered his education in Paris at the Academie Colarossi and the Academie Julian during the 1890s and also studied under noted American artist Edmund Tarbell. Following his return to the United States, Kaula gained membership in numerous artistic societies, such as the Boston Art Club, the New York Watercolor Club, and the Boston Society of Watercolor Painters, and continued to exhibit works at venues throughout the United States and Europe, including the Paris Salon and the Boston Art Club. Kaula secured a well-renowned reputation for his luminous New England landscapes and earned a number of solo exhibitions and medals, including a bronze at the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Today, his works are included in the collections of the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the Colby College Museum of Art, among other prestigious American institutions.