Etienne Ret; Portrait Painter, Lithographer

Etienne Ret, 96, painter known internationally for his portraits and lithography. A native of Bourbonnais, France, he studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and immigrated to Southern California in 1924. He did portraits of the wealthy literati who passed through Santa Monica, including Ernest Hemingway, Aldous Huxley and Jean Renoir. Ret exhibited at the Dalzell Hatfield Galleries in the Los Angeles area and has paintings in the permanent collections of museums in Santa Barbara, Pasadena and San Diego, as well as museums elsewhere in the United States and in France. A Times critic noted of a 1943 exhibit: “Ret is a poet and his pictures are poetic paintings.” In 1950, he published a prizewinning book, “Advice to a Young Artist.” Ret later taught and worked in mixed media in San Antonio. He had returned to France more than a decade ago. On June 20 in Paris.