Bezirk Altona
Yens was born Karl Julius Heinrich Jens was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany and trained in art with Max Koch in Berlin and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens in Paris. He emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Laguna Beach, California in 1910. He was a founding member of the California Water Color Society and a member of the Modern Art Society.