Born in Altona, Germany on January 11, 1868, Karl Yens (or Jens as he is also known) studied with Max Koch in Berlin and with Constant and Laurens in Paris. He was active as a muralist in Germany and Edinburgh, Scotland before coming to the United States in 1901. During the first decade in his adopted country, he continued mural commissions in New York and Washington, DC until 1910 when he settled in Southern California. He was active in Los Angeles and Pasadena until moving to Laguna Beach in 1918. His studio still stands in Laguna Beach on South Coast Highway near Ruby Street. A versatile painter, his oeuvre includes portraits, still lifes, landscapes, genre subjects and many studio figure studies. Equally accomplished in oils and watercolors, his work is distinguished by its bold and colorful and decorative style. Yens died in Laguna Beach on April 13, 1945.

Biography courtesy of DeRu's Fine Arts, www.antiquesandfineart.com/derus