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Margaret keane self portrait4/5/2024 Plus he said he’d learn to paint if I’d teach him, and I wanted to believe him.”Īt the time, millions of Keane paintings, prints and plates were being sold in galleries and department stores, too, according to Sweet. And by then, it was hard to change everything. “It had been going on for two years by the time I found out he was telling people he was the artist. The sadness in the imagery intensified after she discovered what Walter was up to. “The eyes were asking ‘Why, why is there suffering? What is the purpose of life?’ ” “I was painting my own deepest inner feelings, and I was searching for answers,” said Keane. She said her work has always featured big eyes. Soft-spoken, almost timid, but not without a sense of humor, the artist grew up in Nashville, where she studied art at the city’s Watkins art institute. “I had to keep the paint-room door locked to keep the cleaning woman and my daughter and anyone else from coming in,” said Margaret, who lives with her daughter, Jane. Walter, an ex-Realtor, consummate huckster and charmer, sold the stuff, simply signed “KEANE,” at the fabled Hungry i nightclub, while Margaret stayed home and toiled. Keane paintings first surfaced in the late ‘50s in San Francisco’s North Beach area, a boho haven. ![]() “We’ve met other people who have become crazy-rabid about Margaret,” Sweet said. Olympus home, where the oversize pupils of humans and beasts gaze from the walls. Sweet, co-writing a book he hopes to title “Big-Eyed Masters,” recently leafed through stacks of yellowed Keane-related clippings at his Mt. Pop singer-songwriter Sweet, 35, and his wife, Lisa, loaned several items to the exhibit, including a large Keane oil that’s reproduced on the cover of his latest CD, “In Reverse.” “I also like to look at how commercial success influences artists who initially pursue authentic self-expression, and there’s some of that in Margaret Keane’s crying waifs.” “I’m interested in why someone like Margaret Keane achieves iconic status when Jackson Pollock, who was painting around the same time, does not,” said Laguna museum curator Tyler Stallings. In addition to the 35 Keane oil paintings and prints on display at the Laguna museum, the exhibit includes works by ‘60s-era big-eyed imitators such as Igor and Gig (with Gig’s Pity Kitties ceramic figurines), such “Keaneabilia” as ceramic figurines and dolls, and and Keane-influenced pieces by emerging contemporary artists Mark Ryden, Dave Burke, Dani Tull and Lisa Petrucci. 28.5 x 22.The work spurred legions of imitators. ![]() ![]() 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." What makes this particular work even more valuable is that the subject is a waif. 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. This painting has punch and power tempered by sensitivity and compassion: the huge oversized eyes, each with a single teardrop, beckon. However, not all of her work rises to a high level. The image of Wide Eyes defines Margaret Keane's signature style.
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