IN MEMORIAM

Walter Kuhlman, Famed Artist and Professor Emeritus of Art

Walter E. Kuhlman, abstract artist and professor emeritus of art, passed away on March 27. He was 90.

Born in Minnesota in 1918, Kuhlman attended the St. Paul School of Art and the University of Minnesota before joining the Navy in 1943. Post-war, he attended the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris and the California School of Fine Art (now referred to as the San Francisco Art Institute).

In the 1950s, Kuhlman was a key player in the Sausalito art scene, and is credited with helping to begin the abstract expressionism movement. In 1955, Kuhlman became the first artist to rent space in the Industrial Center Building, spurring other artists to follow suit and beginning a tradition that still continues to this day.

He taught at Stanford, Santa Clara University and several other schools before he joined the SSU community, where he remained for twenty years.

Kuhlman's works are displayed worldwide, including in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the British Museum.

He is survived by his wife, Tulip Chestman Kuhlman, a son and two step-children. No public services are planned, but his studio in the Industrial Center Building - No. 335 - will be open May 9 and 10 from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.