Margaret Keane

Modernist Portrait of a Woman

A fine portrait of a 5 year old Christina Patterson by American artist Aaron Abraham Shikler (1922-2015). Shikler was born in Brooklyn, New York, studied at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, then studied in New York with the abstract painter Hans Hofmann, but he remained a committed realist throughout his life, under the sway of artists like Degas, Vuillard, Sickert and Sargent. To make a living, he painted clowns and ballerinas for a wholesale company, signing the work “Phil I. Steen” to register his disgust. When Leroy Davis, an Army friend, opened the Davis Gallery in Manhattan in 1953, he began showing Mr. Shikler’s work, which included figure studies, still lifes and landscapes. A turning point came in 1959 when Jane Engelhard...

A fine impressionist pastel painting of a ballerina by American artist Louis Kronberg (1872-1965). The painter, dealer and art advisor Louis Kronberg was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at the Arts Student League in New York and at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, where he was influenced by Edmund Tarbell...

This artwork titled "Madame Butterfly" 1986, is an original color serigraph with gold addition by noted American artist Margaret Keane, 1927-2022. It is hand signed and numbered HH 109/150 in pencil by the artist. The image size is 24 x 24 inches, framed size is 39.5 x 38.5 inches. Custom framed in a wooden gold frame, with green fabric matting, gold color bevel and three different colors fillet. It is in excellent condition, the frame have some minor restorations, barely visible. About the artist. Margaret D. H. Keane was born 1927 in Tennessee, and attributes her deep respect for the Bible and inspirations of her artwork to the relationship with her grandmother. She later became one of Jehovah's Witnesses, which she said changed her life for the better. In the 1960s, Margaret Keane's artwork was sold under the name of her husband, Walter Keane. He locked her in a room and forced her to paint,while taking credit for her work. Conflict over that issue was cited as one of the reasons they divorced. Neither wanting to relinquish rights to the artwork, Walter and Margaret's divorce proceedings went all the way to federal court. At the hearing, Margaret created a painting in front of the judge to prove that she was the artist. Walter declined to paint before the court, citing a sore shoulder. In 1986, the courts sided with her, enabling her to paint under her own name. Her works while living in her husband's shadow tended to depict sad children in a dark setting, but after divorcing, moving to Hawaii, and becoming one of Jehovah's Witnesses, her paintings took on a happier, brighter style. Keane is a fixture in popular culture. Some of her well-known fans over the years have included actresses Joan Crawford and Natalie Wood, whom she painted portraits of; filmmaker Tim Burton, who commissioned Keane to paint Lisa Marie; and animator Craig McCracken, whose characters the Powerpuff Girls are based on Keane's 'waifs'; additionally the Girls' schoolteacher is named "Ms. Keane". Cultural references • The American television comedy show Saturday Night Live once had a skit that featured her work, during the time when it was thought to be by her husband, as a parody of the reaction against modern art (e.g., Cubism or the New York Armory Show). "People don't look like that!" one comedian shrieks, before the picture in question was shown to the camera and audience as the punch line. • In Woody Allen's 1973 comedy Sleeper, the people of the future consider Keane to be one of the greatest artists in history, one of many references mocking the popular culture of the seventies. • Late Night with Conan O'Brien has "bumper" art in her style depicting a glum Conan O'Brien at his desk, next to a dog. • Weird Al Yankovic's song Velvet Elvis, in which the narrator says he needs "no pictures of Mexican kids with those really big eyes or dogs playing poker". • In season 3, episode 20 of 90210 (Women on the Verge), Annie is described as looking "like a Keane painting...

Portrait of a Young Lady French Modernist artist, circa 1960's period signed oil on board, unframed Board: 21.5 x 15 inches Provenance: private collection, France Condition: very goo...