[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

KRESS, Frederick B. [Am./1888–1970]

“Palace of Fine Arts” [San Francisco, CA]

ca1915

oil on panel / 6 inches by 7 7/8 inches

Trained by his father as a sign painter, Fred Kress studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art in San Francisco with Maynard Dixon. He began working at Foster & Kleiser (sign painters) in 1915 and was the supervisor of the paint dept. He did not participate in art exhibitions after 1918.

The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California is a monumental structure originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in order to exhibit works of art. The eclectic designer was Berkeley architect Bernard Maybeck [1862–1957]. Completely rebuilt from 1964 to 1974, it is one of few surviving structures from the Exposition.