Emil Kosa Jr., “The Big Top”, 1951, Oil on Canvas, 60.1 x 66 cm, Hilbert Museum of Calfifornia Art, Chapman University, California

Emil Kosa Jr. was born in Paris, France on November 28, 1903. He moved to the United States with his family at the age of four. Kosa studied at the Prague Academy as a teenager and then at the California Art Institute in Los Angeles in 1927.  He returned to Paris later in 1927, and studied under Pierre Laurens at l’École des Beaux-Arts.  In 1928, he returned to Los Angeles and studied and later taught at Chouinard and the Otis Art Institutes.

The 1930s were a prosperous decade during which Kosa established himself as a leading West Coast watercolor artist. He experimented with techniques and styles but always preferred to paint outdoors. His work was widely exhibited throughout America, including at New York’s American Watercolor Society and the National Academy of Design. Although he was gaining fame as a watercolorist, his income from his watercolors was not enough to support his family. He took a job in 1933 in the newly-formed special effects department at 20th Century Fox Studios. He was given the role of the art director and held this position for 35 years. In 1963, Kosa won an Oscar for his work on Cleopatra.