Pre 80's

---

 

Home

Art

Online

---

 

Margaret Keane Margaret Keane's work is easily recognized by the children and animals with the characteristic large eyes that have come to be her trademark. She explains, "The eyes I draw on my children are an expression of my own deepest feelings. Eyes are windows of the soul." The world famous "Big Eye" paintings had their beginning in San Francisco over 50 years ago. But Margaret Keane's pop icon status was not confirmed until the 1970's when she was revealed as the ghost painter for her then husband Walter Keane. You see, for many years she was married to a man who claimed credit for what she painted. To prove she was in fact the artist and not her former husband, she painted in court before a Federal Judge and jury, an original oil on canvas painting. When the judge asked her ex-husband to paint, his reply was: "I can't today, because I have a sore shoulder." Needless to say Margaret won the case and she continues to paint those Big Eyes we have come to love so dearly. Since then Keane's work has been rediscovered by a new generation and her work has become increasingly collectible.  Among collectors are Tim Burton, Matthew Sweet, and Jerry Lewis. Margaret Keane now resides in Hawaii.  She continues to delight her admirers with more original works. Limited edition laser prints, beautifully preserved through the canvas transfer process are now available from Aquarius Arts. Aquarius Arts Custom Graphics Canvas Transfer

Peter Max Peter Max's art is greatly appreciated for its positive, transcendent imagery and bold use of color. With unrestrained optimism and youthful vitality, Peter Max blazes to the new millennium on the cutting edge of the media and technology wave, bridging the art traditions of the past with the cyber art of the future.

This outstanding American contemporary artist, author and illustrator is one of the most collected  artists today. There is a poetry to all of his work whether it is a rolling landscape, rugged cliff, seascapes, desert monuments, snow laden trees or his series of barns.  As an illustrator, you will find his work as the Production Designer, Color Stylist and Background Painter for the Disney animated classics "Sleeping Beauty", "Paul Bunyan" and "Lady And The Tramp". Earle has illustrated over 600 designs and sold over 300,000,000 Christmas cards during the past 50 years. Eyvind passed away in July of 2000 at the age of  84.  His works continue to inspire many artists and collectors worldwide.

M a r y    B l a i r Mary Blair has impacted the worlds of animation, advertising, contemporary design and even fine art with the lush minimalism as well as the storytelling aspect of her artwork. A prolific artist from the 1940s to the mid 1970s,  she brought eye-appealing flair to children's books, advertisements and theatrical set designs.  She was one of Walt Disney's favorite artists and the simplicity and innocence in her paintings and sketches pervade Disney animated films  (such as CINDERELLA, ALICE IN WONDERLAND and PETER PAN) as well as large-scale theme park murals and attractions (such as Disneyland's IT'S A SMALL WORLD).  But beneath her deceptively simple style, lies enormous visual sophistication and craftsmanship in everything from color choices to composition.  She saw the world in a fresh, new way and brought a special childlike beauty and gaiety to the worlds of print, theme parks and movies.

Andy Warhol  Over the course of his career, Andy Warhol transformed contemporary art. Employing mass-production techniques to create works, Warhol challenged preconceived notions about the nature of art and erased traditional distinctions between fine art and popular culture.  The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts was established in 1987, In accordance with Andy Warhol's will.  The Foundation's objective is to foster innovative artistic expression, exhibiting and interpreting a broad spectrum of contemporary artistic practices. The Foundation is focused primarily on supporting work of a challenging and often experimental nature in the field of contemporary art. The Andy Warhol Museum's permanent collection is comprised of more than 4,000 works of art by Warhol, making it the most comprehensive single-artist museum in the world.

L i c h t e n s t e i n Roy Lichtenstein was the master of the stereotype, and the most sophisticated of the major Pop artists in terms of his analysis of visual convention and his ironic exploitation of past styles.  In the early 1960's Lichtenstein began producing paintings showing characters from comic-strip frames, with only minor changes of colour and form from the original source material. It was at this time that he first made use of devices which were to become signatures in his work - Ben-Day dots, lettering and speech balloons.