Skip to main content

Margaret Keane More Art

American, 1927-2022

Margaret Keane was born Peggy Doris Hawkins on September 15, 1927, in Nashville, Tennessee. When she was two years old, her eardrum was permanently damaged during a mastoid operation. Unable to hear properly, Keane learned to watch the eyes of the person talking to her to understand them. 

Keane started drawing as a child. At age 10 she took classes at the Watkins Institute in Nashville. She created her first oil painting of two little girls — one crying and one laughing — when she was 10 years old and gave the work to her grandmother. Keane became well known at the local church for her sketches of angels with big eyes and floppy wings. 

At age 18 Keane attended the Traphagen School of Design in New York City for a year. She initially earned money by painting clothing and baby cribs in the 1950s until she finally began painting portraits. Early on Keane experimented with kitsch. She worked in both acrylics and oil-based paints and limited the subjects of her artwork to women, children and familiar animals (cats, dogs and horses). 

Keane's paintings are recognizable by the oversized doe-like eyes of her subjects. She said she was always interested in the eyes and used to draw them in her school books. She began painting her signature "Keane eyes" when she started to create portraits of children. 

"Children do have big eyes,” Keane said. “When I'm doing a portrait, the eyes are the most expressive part of the face. And they just got bigger and bigger and bigger." 

Keane focused on the eyes as they better illuminate the inner person. The artist cited Modigliani's work as a major influence on the way she had painted women since 1959. Other artists who influenced her use of color, dimension and composition include Van Gogh, Picasso and Klimt. She was named a Fellow of the Society of Western Artists after exhibiting in three Annual Juried Shows in the M.H. De Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco.

Keane's works are in collections all over the world. Public collections include the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, the Tennessee Fine Arts Museum in Nashville and more.

Find original Margaret Keane paintings and prints on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Lucille Lucas Gallery)

to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
316
231
172
117
1
Artist: Margaret Keane
Modernist Portrait of a Woman
By Margaret Keane
Located in Milford, NH
A fine modernist portrait of a woman by American artist Margaret Hawkins Keane (1927-2022). Keane was born in Nashville,TN, and attributes her deep respect for the Bible and inspirations of her artwork to the relationship with her grandmother. In the 1960’s, while married to her second husband Walter, she was forced to paint and sell under his name, but during their divorce proceedings, she was able to prove that the paintings were actually done by her and the court determined that she was able to paint under her own name again. She became known for painting women and children with large black sad eyes...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Related Items
The Artist's Wife oil painting by Hans Burkhardt
By Hans Burkhardt
Located in Hudson, NY
Hans Burkhardt The Artist's Wife (1930) Oil on canvas, 20" x 16" 24" x 20 ½" x 1 ½" framed Dated 1930 lower right recto. Annotated "To Elsa HB Louise Burkhardt 1930. HB" verso. ...
Category

1930s American Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Charles Levier [Solitude de Pierrot] signed large oil on canvas circa 1950
By Charles Levier
Located in Miami, FL
CHARLES LEVIER – [SOLITUDE DE PIERROT ⚜ Oil on Canvas ⚜ Hand Signed Lower Right ⚜ Original Period Frame A THEATRICAL PORTRAIT OF MELANCHOLY “Solitude de Pierrot” captures Charles Levier’s fascination with the archetypal Pierrot from commedia dell’arte. With angular black outlines and muted pastel tones, Levier reduces the figure to its essential gestures, creating a poignant symbol of isolation and quiet reflection. The vertical format emphasizes Pierrot’s elongated stance, while his downcast eyes and red-tipped nose heighten the painting’s emotive impact. This work was acquired directly from the artist by noted Beverly Hills designer Dean Richard Kukuk and retains its original Martin Lowitz Gallery label, underscoring both provenance and historical context. WHY COLLECT THIS WORK? ✓ An early and expressive Charles Levier oil from circa 1950 ✓ Features the Pierrot subject, connecting to the theatrical tradition of commedia dell’arte ✓ Strong provenance: Martin Lowitz Gallery, Los Angeles, and the collection of Dean Richard Kukuk, Beverly Hills ✓ Retains its original period frame in excellent condition with gallery label affixed verso ARTWORK DETAILS: ▸ Title: [Solitude de Pierrot] ▸ Artist: Levier, Charles ▸ Medium: Oil on Canvas ▸ Creation Date: circa 1950 ▸ Country of Creation: US ▸ Signed: Hand Signed Lower Right ▸ Current Condition: Excellent commensurate with age. Original period frame in great condition consistent with age. ▸ Documentation: Martin Lowitz Gallery label affixed to verso ▸ Provenance: Martin Lowitz Gallery, Los Angeles; Dean Richard Kukuk, Los Angeles ▸ Dimensions: — ◼︎ Canvas Size: 44.25 inches x 15 inches — ◻︎ Frame Size: 59 inches x 30 inches x 2.625 inches INCLUDED DOCUMENTATION ✓ Certificate of Authenticity ✓ Artist Biography Document THE ARTIST: Charles Levier (1920–2003) was a French-American painter known for expressive oils, gouaches, and watercolors that bridge Modernism and postwar design sensibilities. His subjects include harbor towns, still lifes, café society, and commedia dell’arte figures such as Pierrot and Harlequin. Levier’s linear bite and stylized elongations have invited comparison to Bernard Buffet, while collectors of Modigliani, Rouault, and mid-century École de Paris painting...
Category

1950s Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Three Figures
By Wifredo Lam
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Provenance: Cernuda Art, Coral Gables Private Collection, Los Angeles
Category

1970s Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Three Figures
Three Figures
$80,000 Sale Price
20% Off
H 13.88 in W 17.88 in D 1 in
Lords of the Sky oil painting by Julio De Diego
By Julio de Diego
Located in Hudson, NY
Lords of the Sky (c.1950) Oil on canvas, 30" x 24" 40" x 34" x 2" framed Provenance: The Artist, his daughter About this artist: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within ...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled oil painting of children playing by Eugenie Schein
Located in Hudson, NY
Eugenie Schein was both a dancer and an artist. Her artwork subjects revolved primarily around dancers and dancing, though she also captured everyday scenes in New York. Both Midto...
Category

1940s Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Fish Story oil painting by Williams Charles Palmer
Located in Hudson, NY
This painting is illustrated in the Catalogue of the 1945 Encyclopedia Britannica Collection of Contemporary American Painting, p.84. Written and edited by Grace Pagano. "Painting ...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

On the Beach modernist oil painting by Byron Browne
By Byron Browne
Located in Hudson, NY
Byron Browne On the Beach (1959) Oil on canvas, 20" x 26" 26" x 32" x 1" frame size - likely original Inscribed verso "On the Beach / 1959 / Byron Browne" Provenance: Private collection, Berkley, California About this artist: Through an oeuvre displaying the re-envisioning of figural subjects and the formation of an abstract expressionist style, Byron Browne stands out among the American abstractionists of his generation. Born in Yonkers, New York, in 1907, the artist was a bright talent at the National Academy of Design in his teens. From 1924 to 1928 Browne studied at the Academy under notable artists Robert Aitkin, Charles Courtney Curran, Charles Hawthorne, Alice Murphy...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Figurative landscape oil painting- Garden
Located in Beijing, CN
Dai Xiangwen was born in Hunan in 1991 and graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Jianghan University, He is a member of China Artists Association, China Designers Association, a painter of Li Keran...
Category

2010s Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Infanta - Study Number 6, a 1960 painting by Fermin Aguayo after Velázquez
Located in PARIS, FR
Initialled and dated lower right "a/60", countersigned and dated on the back "aguayo 60". A breath of modernity animates this iconic work, inspired by Velázquez' portrait of the Inf...
Category

1960s Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Paper, Oil

A Day at the Beach
Located in New Orleans, LA
A Day at the Beach by unkown American School painter, circa 1940-1950, oil on canvas. Framed: 31 x 29 inches
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

20th century oil painting entitled The Unknown Corner
Located in London, GB
Collections: Robert Isaacson; James Draper, New York, 2014. Exhibited: Cambridge, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Beggarstaffs: William Nicholson and James Pr...
Category

Early 20th Century Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Junkman's Serenade oil painting by Gregorio Prestopino
By Gregorio Prestopino
Located in Hudson, NY
This work epitomizes Prestopino's interest in social realism which captures a quiet interlude in the everyday life of an "everyman." It also provides a contrast for our expectations as we view a tough, blue collar worker, with no one watching, as he sings a melody to the birds. In an original frame measuring 49" x 39" x 3.25" Provenance: Edith Halpert's Downtown Gallery (label verso from 13 w. 113th street, where the gallery was located from 1926 until 1939) Private collection, NYC, c. 1935 By descent About this artist: Born in Little Italy in 1907, Gregorio Prestopino first set out to become a sign painter as the son of New York City immigrants. Instead, his talent provided a life-changing scholarship to the National Academy of Design, and for five years he studied drawing under C. W. Hawthorne. He spent the summer of 1934 at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. His deep involvement with the colony led him to later serve as its director in 1954. Much of Prestopino’s work was in the vein of social realism. During the 1940s and 1950s he became deeply invested in portraying everyday Manhattan and Harlem scenes. He first became interested in the Ashcan school at the National Academy of Design, and remained committed to an interest in working with urban scenes. His lively treatment of people and events revealed his affinity for sixteenth-century artist Pieter Breughel...
Category

Early 20th Century Modern Margaret Keane More Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Margaret Keane more art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Margaret Keane more art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Margaret Keane in canvas, fabric, oil paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Margaret Keane more art, so small editions measuring 28 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Lalu Prasad Shaw, Jogen Chowdhury , and Prokash Karmakar. Margaret Keane more art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $12,800 and tops out at $12,800, while the average work can sell for $12,800.

Recently Viewed

View All