This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Everett Raymond Kinstler, known as a painter of illustrational portraits, though he also works in landscape, was born in 1926 in New York City. He was drawing for comic books by age sixteen. He studied with Frank DuMond at the Art Students League in New York City. In the 1950s, he worked primarily for Stan Lee's Atlas publications, drawing for mystery, war and western stories. He drew Zorro for Dell Publishing, as well as Kit Carson, The Shadow, and Hawkman for other venues.
Eventually, over the course of fifteen years, Kinstler made hundreds of pulp, magazine, and book illustrations, as well as book covers. During his early years, Kinstler was helped in his career in illustration by James Montgomery Flagg, the creator of the famous "I Want You" Uncle Sam recruiting poster during World War I.
By the late 1950s, Kinstler, influenced by study with portraitist Wayman Adams, was turning more to portrait painting. He submitted a portfolio to Portraits, Incorporated in New York City, and this led to Kinstler's portrait of Forrest E. Mars, Jr. of the candy company, and a dozen others of the family over the years. In 1959, Kinstler had his first major exhibition of portraits and landscapes at Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City, and by 1963, portraits were his main endeavor.
In 1999, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., which has more than fifty Kinstler portraits in its collection, awarded him the Copley Medal for his work as a portraitist. Rollins College (1983) and the Lyme Academy College of Art (2002) awarded Kinstler honorary doctoral degrees.
His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Museum, both in New York City, as well as the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; and the University of Delaware, Newark.
Everett Kinstler has painted five Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton. When Kinstler's portrait of Ford was finished, White House curator Clement Conger asked Kinstler to remove an indentation between the President's eyebrows. "That fishhook has to go," he said. Conger backed off when informed that Betty Ford, the President's wife, had said about the portrait, "that's the man I married" and "you've got that little worry mark just right."
Among Kinstler's five hundred or more portraits, are fifty United States cabinet officers, actors including Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, Gene Hackman, Katharine Hepburn, Carol Burnett, Peter O'Toole and James Cagney, as well as sports figures, entertainers, astronauts, writers, governors, college presidents, Supreme Court justices and Presidential First Ladies.
Kinstler was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design, New York City, in 1970, an Academician in 1974. He is also a member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Arts Club.
Source:
http://www.everettraymondkinstler.com/bio/index.cfm
http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/govportraits/kinstler.html
http://www.lambiek.net/kintsler_everett.htm
http://www.npg.si.edu/pubs/profile/spr03/kinstler.htm
|
Biography from Altermann Galleries and Auctioneers, IV:
| EVERETT RAYMOND KINSTLER is a native New Yorker who began his career at age 16, drawing comic books and hundreds of book and magazine illustrations, as well as covers for paper back books. As one of the "golden age" era of comic book artists, his illustrations for magazines, including The Shadow and Doc Savage, have influenced the pop art school.
He studied at the Art Students League, where he later taught from 1969 to 1974. Kinstler ultimately made the transition to portraitist, and soon established himself as one of the nation's foremost portrait painters. For over four decades, Kinstler also has devoted time to painting landscapes and watercolors.
Among Kinstler's more than 1200 portraits are such well-known personalities as Tony Bennett, Carol Burnett, James Cagney, Betty Ford, Gene Hackman, Katharine Hepburn, Lady Bird Johnson, Paul Newman, Peter O'Toole, Gregory Peck, and John Wayne. Others include authors Arthur Miller, Ayn Rand, Tennessee Williams, and Tom Wolfe; Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harry Blackmun; business and government leaders such as John D. Rockefeller lll, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 6 U.S. Governors, four US Secretaries of State, and the presidents of universities and colleges including Brown, Harvard, Oklahoma, Princeton, Smith, Wellesley, Williams, and Yale.
Kinstler has painted more than 50 cabinet officers, more than any artist in the country's history. Seven Presidents--Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have posed for him. His portraits of Ford and Reagan are the official White House portraits.
He was awarded honorary doctorates by Rollins College in 1983 and the Lyme Academy College of Art in 2002. The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., has acquired 75 of his original works for its permanent collection. He is also represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, etc.
Memberships include: National Academy of Design (N.A.), Allied Artists of America, American Watercolor Society, Pastel Society of America (Hall of Fame), Audubon Artists, Copley Society of Boston (life), National Arts Club.
In 1999, Kinstler received the Copley Medal from the Smithsonian, National Portrait Gallery, its highest honor.
Many PBS stations are airing a recent documentary on his career.
Kinstler has painted the official mayoral portrait of former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Recently complete portraits include Sen. Robert Dole for the U.S. Senate; Neil Rudenstine, former president of Harvard University; Judith Rodin, former president of the University of Pennsylvania; and Donald Trump.
Source: artist's website (http://www.everettraymondkinstler.com/pages/about_erk_biography.html) |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|