Tim Burton took the remarkable artist’s story to the cinema, cheated by her husband who pretended to be the author of her paintings
Margaret Keane, the artist who achieved universal fame as “the painter with the wide eyes,” died Sunday of heart failure at her California home at age 94. His family reported his death on Wednesday. For years her husband claimed responsibility for her paintings, often depicting children with big sad eyes. After surviving the nightmare of a legal battle, the artist managed to regain her work and her dignity in court. Tim Burton brought his story to the big screen in ‘Big Eyes’ in 2014.
His work, for a time reviled, is considered one of the jewels of pop culture and has become a sought-after object for collectors who pay up to 200,000 euros for his paintings.
“We are saddened to announce that Margaret Keane, ‘The Big Eyed Mother’, our Queen, a legendary modern teacher, passed away peacefully at her home in Napa on Sunday morning,” her official Facebook page read.
Peggy Doris Hawkins was the artist’s maiden name, born in 1927 in Nashville, Tennessee. She studied design in New York City before landing a job painting baby cribs in the 1950s. She soon forged her own unique painting style, before meeting Walter Keane in 1955. Keane became her husband and cunningly claimed authorship of the features. of it. characters signed by ‘Keane’ and which he started selling as his own.
He convinced the painter it was “a more realistic solution” and she accepted the hoax. In the 1960s, his paintings were ubiquitous and were acquired by such stars as Dean Martin, Joan Crawford or Natalie Wood, as well as the Kennedy family. “I love what Keane has done. It has to be good. If it was bad, a lot of people wouldn’t like it,” Andy Warhol said at the time. Then the critics slaughtered her.
Walter threatened to kill her if she made the secret public. But the couple divorced in 1965, and in 1970 it was finally revealed that she was the real author of the paintings. In 1986, he sued both Walter Keane and USA Today for claiming to be behind the paintings. At the trial, and at the request of the jury, the couple were asked to paint a picture in the room, something Walter refused, allegedly suffering from a shoulder injury. The jury ruled in favor of Margaret who won the trial but never received the $4 million in damages the sentence demanded because Walter Keane went bankrupt.
Walter died bankrupt in the year 2000, at the age of 85. The artist moved to Hawaii and married sportswriter Dan McGuire. For years he received proposals to go to the cinema with his life, but he rejected them. Until screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski showed him the script they had written and Keane agreed.
The project stalled until Tim Burton came to the rescue and took his story to the cinema in ‘Big Eyes’ starring Amy Adams, which sparked a brief revival of his work’s popularity, although for the painter the film was “a traumatic experience”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
