Lez Haas was born in Berkeley, CA on May 11, 1911.   He received his BA and MFA from University of California, Berkeley.  In the 1930′s, Haas developed a friendship with widely admired abstract impressionist painter, Hans Hoffman. During this time he met Eleanor Pauling French and fell madly in love.  The two were married June 11, 1941.  Shortly after they started a family, with the birth of their first child Averill.  In 1947 he began teaching at the University of New Mexico and served as head of the art department until 1963.  While he was at University of New Mexico, his wife gave birth to their second child, Jonathan, in 1949.  This would be the last addition to the family.  In 1963, he moved to the University of Arizona where he worked as Chairman of the art department until 1977.  Upon his retirement he moved to the secluded town of El Rito, NM where he continued working on his art for as long as possible.

In his art, Lez Haas used several different media.  Many of his paintings are watercolors, as well as oil paintings.  However, he didn’t solely paint, as he did quite a bit of work with photography.  Photographs of some of his art, primarily oil and watercolors, can be seen in the photo gallery.