"For Us the Living"
The Civil War
in paintings
September 25, 2010 through January 9, 2011
Nassau County Museum of Art
1 Museum Drive
Roslyn Harbor, NY 11576-1138
(516) 484-9338
With the upcoming 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, the Nassau County Museum of Art has announced an exhibit of Mort Künstler’s Civil War paintings. They will be on display from September 25, 2010 through January 9, 2011. Künstler is regarded as the world’s foremost Civil War artist. His work is esteemed for its drama and artistry, and for the extraordinary level of authenticity that results from his intensive research.
The upcoming exhibit, For Us the Living – The Civil War in Paintings by Mort Künstler, will capture the sights, feelings, and drama of the Civil War through Künstler’s stunning paintings. Künstler gives you an inside look at the conflict that tore the United States apart, pitting brother against brother. This exhibit coincides with the release of the book For Us the Living: The Civil War in Paintings and Eye Witness Accounts – The Art of Mort Künstler, published by Sterling.
For the first time, visitors of an exhibition of Mr. Künstler’s paintings will get an inside look into the artist’s creative process. The artist’s sketches, drawings, preliminary studies, photographs and props will be on display, as well as Künstler’s research materials and notes.
“He is the foremost Civil War artist of our time – if not of all time,” says Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr. of Virginia Tech, and author of the Pulitzer Price nominated biography Stonewall Jackson – The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. “To study his paintings,” says Robertson, “is to simply see history alive. Johnny Rebs and Billy Yanks, inspiring representatives of America’s common folk, show their courage in battle, their endurance in the field, and their dedication to the generals who controlled their lives.”
From Manassas to Appomattox Courthouse, in vibrant paintings featuring immortal figures like Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jeb Stuart, as well as ordinary men and women swept up in the rush of history, the war’s grand history unfurls throughout this exhibit in all its drama, excitement, and pathos.
Harold Holzer, Civil War art expert of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, says of Künstler, “He deserves double credit. His art is terrific, and he’s attracted thousands of people to Civil War art.”
“Several contemporary artists are capturing the Civil War in their work: The best is Most Künstler,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning Historian James McPherson.
This will be Künstler’s third exhibition at the Nassau County Museum of Art. His exhibition in 1998 broke all attendance records with more than 40,000 people visiting during the seven-week run of the show.
Künstler lives with his family in Oyster Bay.
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