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Artist
Praised for Realism
The following article appeared
in The Herald-Mail
of Hagerstown, MD on April 29, 2001.
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By Julie E. Greene
Martinsburg, WV - Fans of artist Mort Künstler say they
love his paintings because of their color and realism. It's
as if Künstler was at those Civil War scenes, he does such
a good job of making them look real, said some of the people
gathered to get Künstler's autograph Saturday.
The artist autographed printings, books and calendars
for more than four hours at Antietam Gallery in the Martinsburg
Mall on Saturday. Prints of his latest painting, Letter
From Home, were released to the public Saturday. Gallery
owner Jim Kehoe estimated about 250 people visited the gallery
during Künstler's visit.
Jim Davis, 49, of Summit Point, W.Va., had Künstler sign
his framed print titled Until We Meet Again. The
painting depicts Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson holding
his wife's hand at Jackson's headquarters in Winchester,
Va., during the winter of 1862 as Jackson prepares to go
back to battle. "The way he caught the realistic look to
it - he's truly blessed with talent," Davis said.
To make the paintings look real takes considerable research
and many years of experience painting, said Künstler, 69,
of Oyster Bay, N.Y. Before painting Civil War era scenes,
Künstler said he was an illustrator, doing work for the
cover of magazines such as Newsweek and Boy's Life. Then
he was an illustrator of movie posters, such as the one
for The Poseidon Adventure.
He began painting Western images, such as Indians hunting
buffalo, but so were many other artists. "I began to feel
that I was not taking advantage of my talents," Künstler
said. "I wanted to do something that no one else would do."
He began painting epic events, including the Battle of Gettysburg.
That painting, his first Civil War painting, drew a favorable
reaction.
Still, Künstler didn't want to be like many other artists
and focus on images of men battling with bayonets. He wanted
to try painting images his wife would enjoy - images of
everyday life, street scenes and of the hardship of marching
through a snowstorm, he said. As a result, the paintings
have an emotional pull, Künstler said. "We have as many
women buying my prints as men," he said.
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