Karl Hagedorn was born in 1922 in Guentersberge, Germany.  He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1953 until 1959, and saw for the abstract art of Picasso, Fernand Leger, Henri Matisse and Joan Miro, which inspired his artistic spirit.  Following his studies, he immigrated to the United States and settled in St. Paul, Minnesota.  While there, he worked as a free-lance artist creating mosaics, murals, and designing stained-glass windows.  He was also the Art Director for the The Catholic Digest and taught at the St. Paul Art Center and Hamline University.

Mr. Hagedorn’s first major solo exhibition was held at The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis in 1967.  At 50, he moved into a loft in Soho and made art.  His work reflected his life in Europe and New York.  He has continued to exhibit his work frequently in both solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland.  His work is in the permanent collections of The New York Public Library; the Brooklyn Museum; Goethe Institute; University of California; Kunsthalle Nuernberg, Nuremberg, Germany; and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Bamberg, Germany; among others.

Karl Hagedorn died October 29, 2005.