Everett Raymond Kinstler is America’s premier living portrait painter. Kinstler, who turned 90 in 2016, has painted movie stars, singers, artists, and several presidents over the course of his career. This exhibition is a study not only of the life and work of a particular artist, but also of how he has interacted with and rendered in paint other creative professionals, be they artists, musicians, writers, or actors. The portraits capture an era of creativity in this country, featuring Marian Anderson, Romare Bearden, Dave Brubeck, Alexander Calder, Barbara Cook, James Montgomery Flagg, Katherine Hepburn, Dr. Seuss, and Tom Wolfe, among others.
Portraits are often deeply personal, displayed in private homes and clubs or in institutional headquarters. They are created to document individuals in a moment in time, though, making them ideal works of art to lead into a study of social or biographical history. Drawing together these dispersed portraits into one exhibition will shed fresh light on the work of the artist, on the genre of portraiture in American art, and on the interconnectedness of America’s creative leaders in the mid-to late-twentieth century.
Download the exhibition prospectus here.
Categories: Traveling Exhibitions