Margaret Keane

Margaret Keane
Born	1927 (1927) Tennessee
Occupation	Artist
Religion	Jehovah's Witnesses

Margaret Keane (born 1927) is an American artist. She is an illustrator and painter, and mainly draws women and children in oil or mixed media. Her works are instantly recognizable (although often imitated) from the doe-eyed children that are depicted in the drawings.

Biography

Margaret D. H. Keane was born 1927 in Tennessee, and attributes her deep respect for the Bible and inspirations of her artwork to the relationship with her grandmother. She eventually joined the Jehovah's Witnesses, which she said changed her life for the better.

In the 1960s, Margaret Keane's artwork was sold under the name of her husband, Walter Keane. Why she chose to do so has not been fully explained, but conflict over that issue was cited as one of the reasons they divorced. Neither wanting to relinquish rights to the artwork, Walter and Margaret's divorce proceedings went all the way to federal court. At the hearing, Margaret created a painting in front of the judge to prove that she was the artist. Walter declined to paint before the court, citing a sore shoulder. In 1986, the courts sided with her, enabling her to paint under her own name.

Her works while living in her husband's shadow tended to depict sad children in a dark setting, but after divorcing, moving to Hawaii, and becoming a Jehovah's Witness, her paintings took on a happier, brighter style. Her website now advertises her work as having "tears of joy" or "tears of happiness".

Keane is a fixture in popular culture. Some of her well-known fans over the years have included actresses Joan Crawford and Natalie Wood, whom she painted portraits of; filmmaker Tim Burton, who commissioned Keane to paint Lisa Marie; and animator Craig McCracken, whose characters the Powerpuff Girls are based on Keane's 'waifs'; additionally the Girls' schoolteacher is named "Ms. Keane".

Currently Margaret makes her home in Napa County, California. She will be portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in the upcoming film Big Eyes.

Cultural references

• The American television comedy show Saturday Night Live once had a skit that featured her work, during the time when it was thought to be by her husband, as a parody of the reaction against modern art (e.g., Cubism or the New York Armory Show). "People don't look like that!" one comedian shrieks, before the picture in question was shown to the camera and audience as the punch line.
• In Woody Allen's 1973 comedy Sleeper, the people of the future consider Keane to be one of the greatest artists in history, one of many references mocking the popular culture of the seventies.
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien has "bumper" art in her style depicting a glum Conan O'Brien at his desk, next to a dog.
• In season 3, episode 20 of 90210 ("Women on the Verge"), Annie is described as looking "like a Keane painting."

References

• Official Collectors Gallery by Copper State Design
• Ask Art
• An excerpt transcribed from Awake! magazine of July 8, 1975 reposted by Megan Besmirched
• Keane Eyes Gallery
• Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad

External links

• Margaret Keane fan page
• Margaret Keane info available on the Laguna Museum web site