Mort Kunstler's Civil War: The North

by Mort Künstler

Shares the author's favorite Civil War paintings that feature a Northern veiwpoint, including portraits of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, and Lincoln

Genres: Art, Civil War, War, Childrens, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Morton Künstler was an American artist known for his illustrative paintings of historical events, especially of the American Civil War. He was a child prodigy, who, with encouragement from his parents, became a skilled artist by the time he was twelve. Today he is considered the "best-known and most respected historical artist in the country."
Künstler began his career in the 1950s as a freelance artist, illustrating paperback book covers and men's adventure magazines. In 1965 he was commissioned by National Geographic to create what became his first historic painting. He also created posters for movies such as The Poseidon Adventure and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. And by the 1970s he was painting covers for Newsweek, Reader's Digest, and other magazines, with the bulk of his work during that period in advertising art.
While many of his early magazine illustrations were for public entertainment, Künstler eventually began creating military art. In 1977, his first major gallery exhibition brought new attention to his talents as a historical artist. By the 1980s he was acclaimed as America's foremost Civil War artist, and would eventually create over 350 Civil War paintings alone. Some of his paintings have changed opinions about the accuracy of early famous paintings by others, such as Emanuel Leutze's famous Washington Crossing the Delaware. Besides his Civil War paintings, he created historical art of the American Revolution through the Korean and Vietnam wars, along with paintings of World War II. He painted historical events such as the Oklahoma Land Rush and new immigrants on Ellis Island.
Collections of Künstler's work are published as limited-edition prints, and his artistic output places him at the forefront of contemporary historical realism. NASA made him their official artist for the Space Shuttle Columbia. In 1982, CBS-TV had him do a painting for the 3-part mini-series The Blue and the Gray, and in 1993 a one-hour television special, Images of the Civil War - The Paintings of Mort Künstler, was shown on the A&E TV network. He has received numerous honors and awards, and at least nine books are dedicated to featuring his artwork. Some experts see him as the next Norman Rockwell.

Reviews

[Kenneth]

This little 5" x 6" 192 page book is a showing of the artist Mort Kunster's paintings of his Civil War scenes featuring the Union Army and it's principal players. (Mort has also done a book like this of the South). Mort is known for his moving depictions of key moments in American history.
My mother and my brother both had a print of his hanging over their mantle pieces.
Some of his paintings were commissioned by the National Park Service and by C.B.S., and this seemed to draw him deeper into depicting the American Civil War.
At the book sale that I picked this book up at, I also secured his (larger) book on Gettysburg and look forward to reading that in November around the anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
I have visited that National Battlefield many times.