Self-portrait

Born in Paris, France. Painter, muralist, lithographer. Kosa moved to the US with his family at age four. Art studies were begun as a teenager at the Prague Academy and continued at the California Art Institute in Los Angeles (1927), and Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1927-28) under Kupka and Laurens. Upon his return to the US, he studied and taught at Chouinard and Otis Art Institutes in Los Angeles. During the last 35 years of his life, he was a matte artist in the 20th Century-Fox special effects department from 1958 to 1969. His most famous matte painting is probably the ruined Statue of Liberty at the finale of PLANET OF THE APES (1968). Other notable (non-nominated) credits include JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1959), NORTH TO ALASKA (1960), THE SOUND OF MUSIC, VON RYAN'S EXPRESS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY, MORITURI and OUR MAN FLINT (all 1965), THE FANTASTIC VOYAGE and THE SAND PEBBLES (both 1966), DOCTOR DOLITTLE and VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (both 1967) and STAR! (1968). While maintaining a studio in LA, Kosa decorated churches, theaters and private homes and often taught in nearby Laguna Beach. A member of the National Academy of Design and the California and American Watercolor Societies, Kosa's ouevre includes portraits, seascapes, landscapes, figures and florals in oil and watercolor.

Cleopatra (1963)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Special Visual Effects 1963: CLEOPATRA This was the first year for an Award in this category. 1 nomination, 1 Award