Harold Gretzner was born in Baltimore in 1902. He studied art in Washington, D.C. before moving to California at the age of 20.

Once in California, his life was about art. He attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and exhibited with local artists, painting with groups of other like minded artists and exhibiting with them often. He was a member of the American Watercolor Society, the California Water Color Society, the West Coast Water Color Society and the Society of Western Artists.

For 30 years, his routine was set. He would rise early and drive to job as a lithographer in San Francisco, stopping along the way to paint a city scape or bay side scene. Like many of the California Scene watercolor painters, he painted wet into wet, a technique he learned from his good friend, Maurice Logan.

Harold Gretzner was prolific, exhibiting for over 30 years from the 1930's until his passing in 1977. Along with his friend Maurice Logan, he was a member of the 13 Watercolorists of Oakland and was a founding member of the West Coast Watercolor Society.

After retiring from his lithography job in 1960, he spent much of his time painting and teaching in the Bay Area.

The information above is from California Watercolors 1850-1970 by Godon T. McClelland and Jay T. Last and the interview they conducted with Teckla Gretzner in 1983. We have yet to find a photo of Harold Gretzner. If you have or know of one, please let us know. We'd be pleased to post it on this page and share it with others.