Printmaker Seymour Kaplan was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 1, 1919. He took classes first at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 1947 to 1948 and then Mexico City College, Mexico, in 1949, while also studying printmaking as a visiting artist at the Taller de Grafica Popular in Mexico City. He followed this with courses at the University of Southern California from 1950 to 1952. He worked as an illustrator and graphic production artist, as well as an art director and teacher at various institutions before finally receiving his B.A. from California State University, Northridge, in 1974. He died in Rohnert Park, California, on August 1, 2011.