![]() Condition is excellent with very minor signs of age visible only on close inspection. My feeling is that the work in question "Wide Eyes - The Lost One, 1974" is one of the artist's very best works. ![]() The girl's face, haircut, pose, eyes, tears and abandoned street location match the iconic painting that director Tim Burton used for his movie advertisement about Margaret Keane's life, "Big Eyes." Keane died of heart failure in her home in Napa Valley. ![]() What makes this particular work even more valuable is that the subject is a waif. Margaret Keane, a painter whose kitschy, doe-eyed figures became a ubiquitous part of the mid-century American visual landscape, has died. The artist was somewhat prolific, but only a few of her paintings are characterized by the sitter's "ultra-wide eyes," with tears that connect emotionally with the viewer. Eyes are windows of the soul, explained Margaret. The eyes I draw on my children are an expression of my own deepest feelings. This painting has punch and power tempered by sensitivity and compassion: the huge oversized eyes, each with a single teardrop, beckon. Originally recognized by their wistful and sad-eyed children, Margaret Keane’s works came to feature happy children, animals, or both, all with her signature large-eyes, in delightful places and situations. However, not all of her work rises to a high level. Walter Keane didn’t bother to show up, though he continued to take credit for the artwork.The image of Wide Eyes defines Margaret Keane's signature style. She showed up with her easel and quickly produced a classic big-eye child. Though the paintings sold for as little as $40 at the time, they now often go for thousands.Īfter a drawn-out and acrimonious divorce, Keane confided in a reporter in 1970 that her ex-husband had painted none of the wide-eye waifs and offered to prove it in a public demonstration in San Francisco’s Union Square. Requests for personalized big-eye paintings rolled in from the celebrity world as well and portraits were done from photos of Natalie Wood, Caroline Kennedy, Liberace, Kim Novak and many more. and dutifully signed each painting with a simple “Keane.” If anyone bothered to ask, he described his wife as a struggling amateur. A former real estate agent with a big personality and a gift for showmanship, he appeared on television shows, made the rounds at galleries from New York to L.A. Though received more as curiosities than serious contemporary art, there was something arresting about the images of the children, their eyes filled less with wonderment than panic, if not outright fear, that resonated with viewers.Īs the paintings sold - eventually by the millions - Keane’s husband Walter stepped forward and took credit for the art. Her first big-eye paintings emerged in the late 1950s in San Francisco’s North Beach, then a lively bohemian haven. Keane was born Margaret Doris Hawkins on Sept. Vindicated as the creator of the big-eye paintings, Keane continued to paint and sell her artwork until her death Sunday at her home in Napa, the Keane Eyes Gallery in San Francisco confirmed. Though art critics were unimpressed, Americans rushed to cash registers to buy the artwork.īut there was a backstory to it all - a nasty divorce, a courtroom paint-off and a Tim Burton movie that plumbed the story of Margaret Keane, the artist who labored in near anonymity in a basement while her husband took credit for the kitschy, wildly popular paintings she created. For years, they were impossible to miss - the images of the doleful, sad-eyed children seemingly hanging everywhere, from museums to discount stores.
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