Custom Puzzle Craft - K. Chin Gallery of K. Chin Paintings

This section, launched July 10, 2006, is designed to be an image repository of all K. Chins paintings from which no lithographs were created with the exception of some lithographs of the "France" era.

I own two small K. Chin oil paintings. Both are painted on Masonite. The Koala Bear painting was painted on the back mottled side of the board. The Owl was painted on a fabric which was cut out in the shape of the owl and glued to the smooth side of a board. I acquired these two paintings in November 2006.

Koala Bear (9 1/8" x 12") and Colorful Owl (9" x 12" - board size, image cropped slightly)

K. Chin made three commercial prints of Koala Bears that I know about. I think my painting is better than the three prints

Three K. Chin mass produced Koala Bear prints

I own three small K. Chin clown paintings in Acrylic.

Clown with Starfish (8x10"), Clown with Quarter (8x10"), Clown with Cards (8 1/8x12")
The names are made up by me

The frames were removed for these photos. In Clown with Starfish, a hint of red appears along the bottom left, the clown's vest probably was red, as well has his lips. In Clown with Quarter, the clown's shirt was probably blue. Note that the clown on the left has a "pointy" hat, collar, and gloves around the wrist. Line extensions are similar to the Cathedral of St. Nazaire painting style. These two clown paintings appeared in the estate of the previous owner sometime in the 1960's. They were probably purchased in a small gallery in New York (very likely at Bergdorf Goodman). Both of these paintings are done on canvas. The Clown with Cards painting was framed on December 3, 1963 and was painted on the dimply side of a Masonite board. The painting was found in a garage of an uncle of the seller. There is some fading in this one, but not as much as the first two.

If you own any K. Chin paintings or know about K. Chin, please contact me at my email address, below.

Europe / France Era

K. Chin made an extended trip to Europe either in the late 1950's and/or early 1960's. K. Chin took photographs there which he then used as source material for paintings he did in his New York studio. Any information about K. Chin's activity in Europe will be appreciated.

Cathedral of St. Nazaire
23.25" x 19.25" probably painted in the 1960's.

Cathedral of St. Nazaire - detail

K. Chin's early paintings that I know about were done in acrylic and have faded considerably. Cathedral of St. Nazaire, which I own, hints at much more vibrant colors under the edge of the frame. I suspect the color scheme should be closer to the Suburbs of Paris lithograph, below, a widely produced K. Chin lithograph mounted on cardboard, published by Arthur A. Kaplan, Co. Inc. of NYC. (no date on the print).

Suburbs of Paris - 24"x12" lithograph

Suburbs of Paris was also published as a massive 48" x 24" lithograph. The coloring, as indicated in a photo provided through correspondence, is somewhat different:

Suburbs of Paris - 48"x24" lithograph
Low resolution photo heavily processed, colors are probably representative

K. Chin's Sunrise Over Montmartre was evidently a large painting. A massive 54" x 30" lithograph was made from a photo of the painting; I do not have a copy.

Sunrise Over Montmartre - 54" x 30" lithograph
This image derived from a low rez image I saved from the net, perhaps on eBay

A cropped section of the Sunrise Over Montmartre image was published as another print by Arthur A. Kaplan on cardboard.

The Arthur A. Kaplan print of Sunrise Over Montmartre - 14x11".
The domes in the background are from the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur

K. Chin Signatures and Marks

K. Chin prints are marked by K. Chin in one or more ways

1) A printed signature incorporated within the lithography.

The one on the left is from the mass produced Mark Twain member of the Steamboat series. Virtually all of K. Chin's prints have "K Chin" printed within the print. One exception I've seen is the somewhat mysterious "K. C." within the mass produced "Cute Children with Hats and Bonnets" series. I have no doubt the work was done by K. Chin, but the printed signature is suspect as the K is very different from all other varieties and there is a period after the K. I suspect the K. C. marking was added by the publisher.

2) A written signature

After K. Chin suffered a stroke in the early 1980's, his output of paintings and prints dropped considerably. Eventually he spent a tremendous amount of time signing prints published by his Carmel by the Sea gallery, as wells as cards and even some of the mass produced prints previously published by other publishers. Some of the prints were signed within the image while others were signed within the white border if there was a white border.

At some point K. Chin used a "K Chin" signature stamp. Instead of hand writing his signature on a print, he used the stamp. If and when I get more info about this I'll post it here.

3) A Chinese Chop Mark

Frequently when K. Chin hand signed his prints, he placed a Chop Mark, a personal mark in red ink near the signature. I have seen six different kinds. The first one is from one of K. Chin's cards and is printed on the card. The second one appears on many prints, it is also printed. The third, four and fifth are inverted varieties of the second mark and are hand stamped. The sixth one is from one of K. Chin's "flower arrangement" prints and is printed. In July 2006, a friend translated the symbols in the middle four stamps to phonetically say "kaychin" without knowing that the artist's name was "K. Chin"! A few of the prints with printed Chop Marks have hand stamped Chop Marks too!

4) Carmel by the Sea

The name of K. Chin's California gallery appears on some of his prints - most of the time printed and a very few times hand written.

5) Some prints contain an embossed owl. I have one Artist's Proof print of his which contains an embossed owl. This particular print also has the words "Artist's Proof" written on the print and the letters "A P". The embossed owl is on an Engraver's Proof (for the CUE magazine cover August 5, 1974)