Sep 19, 2024 - Sale 2678

Sale 2678 - Lot 139

Unsold
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
EVERETT RAYMOND KINSTLER (1926-2019)
Portrait of Jacob Lawrence.

Oil and charcoal on wood panel, 1987. 865x610 mm; 34⅛x24 inches. Signed, dated lower right, and signed, dated and inscribed with the name of the sitter in felt-tip pen, on the backboard verso.

Provenance
From the Estate of Everett Raymond Kinstler.
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Additional Details

Everett Raymond Kinstler is widely considered to be one of America's greatest illustrators and foremost portrait painters. His works are held in several important private and public collections, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Kinstler grew up in New York, where his precocious artistic talent was inspired by illustrators like N.C. Wyeth and James Montgomery Flagg, the rise in popularity of comics such as Flash Gordon, and the "Golden Age" of cinema. At age 16, having stopped attending classes at the Music and Art High School, he became an apprentice comic book artist and studied at the Art Students League with Frank V. DuMond and Sidney Dickinson. His natural talent and technical skills continued to propel Kinstler's sustained success as an illustrator of comics, magazines, and book covers.

As the 1950's came to a close, illustration work became difficult to come by, and Kinstler sought to establish himself as a portrait artist. He began to take jobs that would show off his skill of capturing likenesses, including assignments for Mediascope. Kinstler forged connections with well-known artists, writers, and public figures which helped to transform the image of the National Arts Club, where he regularly exhibited artwork and held several leadership positions during his lifelong membership. His expanding social circle, bolstered by his persistence and his memberships in several other artist groups, helped navigate his transition and by 1960 he was able to financially rely on portrait commissions.

During his career, Kinstler painted more than 3,000 portraits, including actors John Wayne, Paul Newman, and Katherine Hepburn, personalities such as Tony Bennett, Carol Burnett, and Tom Wolfe, and government figures such as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, eight presidents (including the official portraits of Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Ronald Reagan), and more than fifty United States cabinet members.

Later, Kinstler became an instructor at the Art Students League and went on to author articles and books about mastering the art of portraiture.

In recognition of his cultural importance and his decades long artistic contributions, Kinstler was awarded three honorary degrees from colleges and universities and was designated an Academician by the National Academy of Design. In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Copley Medal by the National Portrait Gallery, which holds 75 of Kinstler's works in its permanent collection.