Trafford Partridge Klots

Klots was born in Rome to American parents. His mother, Agnes Boone Klots, was from a prominent Baltimore family. His father, Alfred Partridge Klots, also an artist, was born in Paris to American parents. He spent most of his youth in Europe, where his parents established an art colony in Brittany in the village of Rochefort-en-Terre.

Most of Klots’ education consisted of painting. He had several art teachers and through extensive travels was able to study the great masters. In 1932, he enrolled at the British Academy in Rome, and between 1933 to 1935, was a student in London at the Shaw School.

After Klots’ father died in 1938, Klots and his wife Isabel continued development and promotion of Rochefort-en-Terre as an artists’ colony. They spent their time between there and Florida, mingling with high society. Following World War II, they dedicated themselves to restoration of their property at Rochefort-en-Terre and worked together on this effort until he died in 1976. 

In 1987, the French government purchased the Klots’ chateau, and in 1989, Isabel Klots established the Alfred & Trafford Klots Artist Residency Program in memory of her father-in-law and husband. The program, administered through the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), covers lodging and studio space for two months’ time in the summer for artists to have uninterrupted work in an inspiring and historic setting. In 2007, the college held an exhibition featuring the participants in the artist residency program of Chateau Rochefort-en- Terre. In 2011, when the chateau became uninhabitable for need of extensive renovations, MICA moved the residency to Léhon, another medieval village in Brittany.