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By Rod Gragg

	Civil War artist Mort Künstler pauses from work in his New York studio.

NEW YORK - Mort Künstler leans forward toward his painting - almost as if he is trying to insert himself into the canvas. With the practiced stroke of a seasoned professional, he applies color to General J.E.B. Stuart's bushy dark beard. "I like painting with natural light," he explains. "It helps me see the true colors of a painting." The painting emerging on Künstler's canvas is a magnificently detailed street scene set in Culpeper, Virginia during the American Civil War.

The attention to detail is characteristic of this artist, but Mort Künstler hardly needs any help. He's the foremost historical artist in America - his originals sell for as much as $150,000 and his limited edition fine art prints are displayed in homes, offices and historical sites throughout the nation. Few artists in America have achieved as much as Mort Künstler. A graduate of prestigious Pratt Institute, he was the up-and-coming young artist of the great illustrated magazine era of the 1950s, and later was acclaimed for his historical artworks in National Geographic, Newsweek and other prominent publications. His original art was represented by highly-regarded Hammer Galleries of New York City. From prehistoric American life to the odyssey of the space shuttle, Mort Künstler had painted America's story - and was celebrated in American art circles as "the premier historical artist in America."

 

In Candlelight and Roses Mort Künstler captured the opening moments of Gen. JEB Stuart's Culpeper ball.

Today, he is unquestionably the most collected Civil War artist in America.

"Of all the artists working in the Civil War field, none captures the human element, the aura of leadership, the sense of being there and sharing in the drama, quite like Mort Künstler," observes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson. James I. Robertson, Jr., author of the acclaimed biography Stonewall Jackson, shares the same sentiments. "Mort Künstler is the foremost Civil War artist of our time - if not of all time," he says.

This day, in his studio overlooking Oyster Bay - just outside New York City - Künstler is working on Before the Ball, a fascinating outdoor scene of Southern beaus and belles - an actual event that occurred on June 4, 1863 in Culpeper, Virginia. As General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia moved through the region at the beginning of the summer campaign that ended at Gettysburg, General J.E.B. Stuart - Lee's cavalry commander - paused his corps of horse soldiers at Culpeper. Stuart loved entertainment, and he ordered an impromptu ball for his officers and local guests at the Town Hall. In an earlier work, Candlelight and Roses, Künstler captured the festivities at the ball. Now, in this new painting - set on a Culpeper street - he depicts the officers and guests arriving in the soft light of a summer twilight. Officers wear dress uniforms - sashes and sabers included - and the female guests are adorned in the hooped skirts and Victorian jewelry of the day. The focal point of the painting is General Stuart and his wife Flora, who was visiting the famous general's headquarters at the time.

	Künstler's newest work, Before the Ball, depicts Stuart, his wife, and other guests arriving for the celebrated event.

It’s a typical Künstler work: a fascinating and representative snapshot of Civil War history captured with devoted attention to 19th century details and an artist’s eye for magnificent composition. To the delight of art lovers, Civil War buffs and Künstler fans, images of the progress of this work is now posted on the official Mort Künstler website, allowing website visitors to follow Künstler's work on a day-by-day basis. Künstler says he loves painting the Civil War era. "What a fascinating period," he says. "You know, there's just no other period in American history with so many colorful and important figures, so many key historical moments - or so many moving moments. It's an artist's delight."

His latest book - newly released by Greenwich Press - is a dazzling collection of his Civil War artworks entitled The Civil War Art of Mort Künstler. It has already sold out its first printing, and customers are anxiously awaiting the release of the second edition. "I'm just very humbled that this book is doing so well," he says. "An artist wants his work to be available - and this book takes almost everything I've done on the Civil War to date and puts it in a beautifully done context. I'm glad it's meaningful to so many people."

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