Isabella Flores
Margaret Keane was an American artist known for her paintings of subjects with big eyes. Her subjects were mostly women, children, or animals, and she worked in both oil and acrylic paints. Keane's fascination with eyes began at a young age when she suffered hearing loss due to an injured eardrum, forcing her to rely on people's eyes to communicate and understand them. This unique perspective influenced her artistic style, and her signature big eyes became famous in the 1950s and 1960s. While her work garnered both commercial success and critical acclaim, it was initially attributed to her then-husband, Walter Keane, who claimed credit for her paintings. It was only after their divorce in the 1960s that Margaret publicly asserted her authorship, which was eventually established in a courtroom paint-off.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Medium | Oil, acrylic, and mixed media |
| Subjects | Women, children, and animals |
| Style | Surrealistic portraits with large eyes |
| Inspiration | Amedeo Modigliani, Van Gogh, Henri Rousseau, Leonardo da Vinci, Gustav Klimt, Edgar Degas, Picasso, Sandro Botticelli, and Paul Gauguin |
| Tone | Melancholy |
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What You'll Learn
Surrealism and emotion
Margaret Keane's paintings are known for their surrealistic elements, with her subjects' distinctive large eyes evoking a range of emotions. The eyes in her portraits, often of women, children, or animals, are not just a stylistic choice but a means of communication. As a child, Keane suffered hearing loss due to an injured eardrum, forcing her to rely on people's eyes to understand them. This personal experience influenced her artistic style, as she used the eyes of her subjects to convey emotion and vulnerability.
Keane's paintings gained international fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but it was her ex-husband, Walter Keane, who initially took credit for her work during their marriage. The eyes in her paintings became a trademark, with many wondering about the melancholy tone of her art. The big eyes, often accompanied by tears, created an emotional connection with the viewer, making her subjects appear vulnerable and evoking a sense of sadness.
While some critics dismissed her work as "appallingly sentimental," others, like Pop artist Andy Warhol, praised her unique style. Keane's use of colour and dimension set her work apart from modern art of the time, attracting a wide audience and patronage. Her paintings resonated with people, especially children, and inspired toy designs and cartoons, such as the Little Miss No Name dolls and Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls.
Keane's journey as a female artist in the 1950s and 1960s was challenging. She could not use her name on her artwork and instead used her husband's surname, which he then exploited to claim ownership of her creations. It took courage for her to leave her abusive marriage and publicly call out her husband's deceit. Eventually, through a courtroom "paint-off" in Hawaii, she proved her authorship and reclaimed her artistic identity.
Keane's story and her distinctive artistic style continue to inspire and influence artists today. Her paintings, with their emotional depth and surrealistic elements, have left a lasting impact on popular culture, demonstrating the power of art to communicate across boundaries.
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Use of colour and dimension
Margaret Keane's paintings are known for their distinctive "big eyes", which evoke a lot of emotion, often depicting their subjects—women, children, and animals—crying. Her work is characterised by the use of bold colours, particularly in the subjects' eyes, which draw the viewer's attention. The colours she uses are often vivid and bright, creating a sense of vibrancy and energy in her paintings.
Keane worked with both acrylic and oil-based paints, and her use of colour was influenced by various artists, including Amedeo Modigliani, Van Gogh, Henri Rousseau, Leonardo da Vinci, Gustav Klimt, and Edgar Degas. These artists inspired her to experiment with different colour combinations and techniques, contributing to the unique style that she developed over her decades-long career.
Keane's paintings also play with dimension in interesting ways. She often used perspective to emphasise the size of her subjects' eyes, making them appear larger than they would in reality. This technique adds to the surrealistic nature of her portraits and creates a sense of depth within the composition. The use of dimension in her work is particularly notable in her later pieces, where she experimented with mixed media and incorporated elements of Hawaiian flora and fauna, reflecting the environment around her.
Keane's use of colour and dimension in her paintings is a significant aspect of her artistic style. Her bold colour choices and emphasis on the eyes of her subjects create a striking visual impact, while her use of perspective and dimension adds depth and surrealism to her work. By combining these elements, Keane was able to develop a unique and recognisable artistic voice that has influenced many other artists.
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Artistic influences
Margaret Keane's distinct artistic style was influenced by a combination of her personal experiences and the works of several renowned artists.
Keane's interest in art emerged from her isolated childhood, marked by a mastoid operation at the age of two that resulted in permanent damage to one of her eardrums. This hearing impairment led her to focus on people's eyes as a primary means of communication and understanding, sparking her fascination with eyes that would later become the defining feature of her artwork.
Keane's signature "big eyes" evolved from her observation of the distinct facial proportions of infants, particularly their eyes, after the birth of her daughter, Jane. She began to emphasise and enlarge the eyes in her sketches, creating a style that would become synonymous with her name.
In terms of artistic influences, Keane herself acknowledged the significant impact of Amedeo Modigliani's work on her style, particularly in how she painted women from around 1959 onwards. Additionally, she drew inspiration from well-known artists such as Van Gogh, Henri Rousseau, Leonardo da Vinci, Gustav Klimt, Edgar Degas, Picasso, Sandro Botticelli, and Paul Gauguin. Each of these artists influenced her use of colour, dimension, and composition, contributing to the unique style that garnered both critical acclaim and commercial success for Keane.
Keane's work also attracted the attention of notable figures like Andy Warhol, who praised her artwork, and Tim Burton, who directed the 2014 biopic "Big Eyes", shedding light on Keane's life and artistic journey.
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Subjects and themes
Margaret Keane's paintings are known for their distinctive "big eyes", with women, children, and familiar animals such as cats, dogs, and horses as their subjects. The large eyes of her subjects evoke a lot of emotion, as many of them are depicted crying rather than smiling, resulting in a melancholy tone in her work.
Keane's obsession with eyes can be traced back to her childhood. At the age of two, she suffered an injury that permanently damaged her eardrum, causing hearing loss. As a result, she learned to pay close attention to people's eyes to understand them, and this fixation became a source of inspiration for her artwork as an adult.
Keane's signature style began to develop after the birth of her daughter, Jane. She noticed the distinct facial proportions of infants, particularly their eyes, and decided to emphasise this feature in her sketches, enlarging the eyes to communicate emotion to her audience.
Keane's work gained international fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with her paintings of wide-eyed waifs and children becoming her trademark. During this time, her then-husband, Walter Keane, promoted and sold her paintings as his own, taking advantage of the name "Keane" to claim credit for her work.
In the mid-1960s, Keane left her husband and moved to Hawaii with her daughter. Her work from this period became more cheerful, often incorporating elements of Hawaiian flora and fauna. She continued to paint for Walter, fearing his possible connections to the mafia. It wasn't until 1970 that she publicly revealed herself as the artist behind the big-eyed paintings, and it took until 1986 for her to win the rights to her paintings in a protracted legal battle.
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Critical reception
Margaret Keane's paintings of people and animals with big eyes have received a mixed critical reception. While her work has been commercially successful, it has also been criticised as formulaic and clichéd.
Keane's paintings gained international fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when her then-husband Walter Keane helped advertise her work. However, Walter Keane took full credit for the paintings during their ten-year marriage. In the 1960s, following their divorce, Margaret Keane claimed credit for the paintings, which was established after a courtroom "paint-off" in Hawaii, in which Walter refused to participate.
Despite the commercial success of her paintings, art critics have generally not been favourable towards Keane's work. The art critic of the New York Times, John Canaday, described Keane as a painter celebrated "for grinding out formula pictures of wide-eyed children of such appalling sentimentality that his product has become synonymous among critics [as a] definition of tasteless hack work". Pop artist Andy Warhol, however, praised Keane's work, telling Life magazine in 1965, "I think what Keane has done is just terrific! If it were bad, so many people wouldn’t like it."
Keane's work has been influential, with her "big eyes" becoming the inspiration for the character designs of Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls in 1998. One of the teachers in the show is named Ms. Keane in her honour. Keane has also been recognised during Women's History Month as an important female icon within the art community.
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Frequently asked questions
Margaret Keane is known for her paintings of subjects with big eyes. She mainly painted women, children, or animals in oil or mixed media.
Margaret Keane suffered from hearing loss at a young age and learned to understand people by looking at their eyes. This inspired her to create her signature "big eyes" paintings.
Margaret Keane's paintings often feature surrealistic elements, such as subjects with extremely large eyes, and utilize color and dimension in unique ways.
Margaret Keane's paintings gained international fame in the late 1950s and early 1960s and have influenced toy designs and cartoons. Her artwork has also been commercially successful due to inexpensive reproductions on plates, prints, and mugs.
