Walter Keane - Art

Art

Keane claimed that his inspiration for the big-eyed children came when he was in Europe as an art student. He is quoted as saying, "My psyche was scarred in my art student days in Europe, just after World War II, by an ineradicable memory of war-wracked innocents. In their eyes lurk all of mankind's questions and answers. If mankind would look deep into the soul of the very young, he wouldn't need a road map. I wanted other people to know about those eyes, too. I want my paintings to clobber you in the heart and make you yell, 'DO SOMETHING!"

In 1957, after having been painting full-time for nine years, Keane decided it would be "a good idea" to display his work at the Outsider Art show being held in Washington Square in Manhattan. In 1959 he and wife Margaret were referred to as "the family that paints together sells together". In a New York exhibition, patrons bought 20 pieces of Walter's, 20 of Margaret's, and six painted by their daughters Susan and Jane. In 1961, The Prescolite Manufacturing Corporation bought Keane's painting Our Children and presented it to the United Nations Children's Fund. It is in the United Nations permanent collection of art. In 1965 Keane was named "one of the most controversial and most successful painters at work today", with his works owned by many celebrities and hanging in many permanent collections.