Kley studied "practical arts" at the Karlsruhe Akademie and finished his studies in Munich.His early works were conventional portraits, landscapes, still lifes, city scenes and historical paintings. From about 1892 he won a reputation as an "industry artist", painting manufacturing scenes in oils and watercolors. They proved his deep understanding of the modern machine world. Kley attained greater notoriety with his sometimes darkly humorous pen drawings, published in Jugend and the notorious Simplicissimus.
The date of Kley's death is uncertain. Rumors initially suggested his demise in the early 1940s. It is also suggested that Kley died on August 2, 1945. Some sources mention the time of death on February 8, 1952.
Cartoonist Joe Grant was well aware of Kley's work and introduced his drawings to Walt Disney, who built an extensive private collection. A number of early Disney productions, notably Fantasia, reveal Kley's inspiration.
Due to Disney's interest and reprints by Dover Publications, Kley is still known in the USA, while he is nowadays little regarded in Germany.
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