Born 1919 Los Angeles, CA
Died 2018 Berkeley, California

Katherine Westphal's oil on board painting titled 'Abstract Landscape' embodies the stylistic qualities of abstract painting. Using a diverse color palette of orange, red, yellow, blue and green shades, Westphal creates a harmonious balance of warm and cool tones that help to define the shapes represented in the work. The freeform shapes are nonrealistic representations of nature subjects; there seem to be three trees depicted, one green/blue/yellow tree that emerges from the bottom right in the foreground of the work. The two other trees are comprised of mainly black and dark green and are positioned in the middle ground of the work, making them less prominent than the brightly painted tree depicted in the foreground. There also appears to be water, represented by the light blue/green color in the bottom right corner of the work, directly behind the green/blue/yellow tree just described. The presumed water is bordered by what looks to be representational of a cliff shoreline, with use of mainly red/orange and black, which recedes into the background towards the horizon line. The horizon line consists of two mountain/hill shaped forms, one longer but less round form that extends from the left side of the canvas and is dark green, while the other is positioned in front of the dark green mountain, in the center of the canvas and is red/orange. Above the horizon line and the presumed mountains/hills is the light blue sky, even lighter than the water that is depicted below. Within the sky, in the upper right hand corner of the work, is a yellow circle surrounded by blue strokes, representational of the sun and clouds. This abstract landscape beautifully represents the organic qualities of nature while also exhibiting a wonderfully balanced color scheme.

Although Katherine Westphal is better known as a textile artist, she completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in painting at the University of California, Berkeley. Katherine (1919-2018) had a long life as an artist; she started exhibiting a love for art and creativity as young girl by drawing and collaging. Her artistic pursuits advanced well into her life and she has had many works in permanent collections as well as museums, such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.. In the 1960's she began teaching a textile class at UC Davis, lecturing on non-western and indigenous textile design and styles.