Morton Künstler (August 28, 1927 – February 2, 2025) 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. He was 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 Emmanuel 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."Mort Kunstler, premier historical artist, exhibits 50 works in Allentown", The Morning Call, Oct. 11, 2014
Early years and education Künstler was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1927 and grew up there during the Great Depression."The Art of Mort Künstler", Saturday Evening Post, Dec. 19, 2016 His parents had Polish and Austrian roots and were of Jewish heritage. Künstler's father was an amateur artist and his mother, a school teacher. Both his parents recognized Mort's artistic talent when he was young.“An interview with artist Mort Künstler – Part 1”, Mens Pulp Mags, August 8, 2011 they encouraged him to practice and enrolled him in Saturday classes at the Brooklyn Museum.Drawing by Mort Kunstler when he was eight years old
His talent in art was further supported when he was at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, inspired by his art teacher, Leon Friend.Heller, Steven. "Leon Friend: One Teacher, Many Apostles", Design Observer, July 21, 2007Friend, Leon; Hefter, Joseph Graphic Design: A Library of Old and New Masters in the Graphic Arts, Amazon books After graduating high school he enrolled at Brooklyn College to study art, although his main focus became athletics. He excelled in several sports. He then received a basketball scholarship from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he continued to focus on sports.
After Künstler's father suffered a heart attack, he returned to New York to help his family, and enrolled in Brooklyn's Pratt Institute, studying to become a fine art illustrator, and graduated after three years. (There, he met his wife, Deborah;Doherty, M. Stephen. "Biography of the Artist", The American Spirit: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler, Rutledge Hill Press (1994) p. 235 they married soon after he graduated.) Among the artists whose work he studied that influenced his later career were Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer, and Frederic Remington."Applying Brushstrokes to the Civil War", New York Times, Jan. 4, 1998
Early jobs
After graduating from Pratt he worked as a freelance artist in New York, where he tried to get assignments from book and magazine publishers. That goal became difficult at the time, which led him to work instead as an apprentice at a studio, where he ran errands, cleaned up and touched up paintings by other artists. Künstler wanted to be a professional illustrator, but discovered that the early 1950s was a bad time to enter the field, since photography and television were replacing the need for artists. And the few magazines that still relied on artists were folding.
However, he did find a niche market as a freelancer for adventure magazines, which still appreciated his art: “Fortunately for me and other artists, some of them, like the men’s adventure magazines, would still prefer having paintings made for their covers and interior illustrations.”Examples of early men's magazine artwork by Kunstler He continued doing those throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, although to make ends meet he had to live with his parents, who supported him during this early period: “I worked 12 hour days, 15 hour days, sometimes seven days a week. Almost always six days a week, from nine o’clock in the morning to ten or eleven at night.”
Eventually he began to share a studio with another already established adventure artist, George Gross,George Gross artworks, ArtnetGeorge Gross (1909-2003), Pulp Artists whose family was friends with his. “I used to call him Uncle George and I chose him as my mentor.” George, 22 years his senior, had also attended Pratt Institute, and his father had a successful art career. As a result, says Künstler, “I wasn’t just a kid working out of his house anymore... George sort of took me under his wing, and he taught me whatever he could. It was a wonderful thing for me.”Perrell, Franklin Hill. “Mort Künstler - The American Spirit”, Nassau Museum, August 31, 2006
1950s–1960s
Künstler began working full-time as a freelance artist, illustrating magazine covers and paperback fiction adventure books, typically oriented toward men, such as Sports Afield, Outdoor Life, and Stag.Men's magazine art example by Mort Kunstler Künstler credited the experience gained from illustrating men’s adventure magazines in the 1950s and 1960s with teaching him how to compose and tell a story, which he said prepared him for his later work.
He received his first assignment to do a historic painting from National Geographic magazine in 1965. He was to paint an illustration for a story about the history of St. Augustine, Florida. He traveled to Florida, spent an afternoon with the two National Park Service historians at the National Historic Site “Castillo de San Marcos” to learn whatever he could, before beginning. Künstler's later historical paintings would also rely on collaboration with experts who would guide and provide him with the historic facts he needed before beginning.
1970s In the 1970s, Künstler painted covers for Newsweek, Reader's Digest and other magazines, although the bulk of his work during this period came from doing advertising art.Advertising art of Mort Kunstler He also did the box covers for Aurora models.“An interview with artist Mort Künstler – Part 2”, Mens Pulp Mags, August 24, 2011
He illustrated a number of movie posters for adventure films, such as The Poseidon Adventure (1972)Poster for The Poseidon Adventure painted by Kunstler and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974).Poster art of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three In 1975 Künstler created the illustration for a MAD Magazine back cover depicting women's liberation; several issues later, he crafted a front cover which parodied the movie Jaws. Women's Lib painting for Mad magazine"Jaws" on the cover Mad magazine, Jan. 1976“Mort Künstler: The Art of Adventure Opens May 9 in the MSV”, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, April 20, 2015 By the early 1970s, his paintings were attracting the attention of serious art collectors, which led him to begin retaining the reproduction rights to his original paintings. In 1975 he submitted a number of paintings to galleries, all of which sold, to his surprise. In 1977 his military art drew attention from even more important galleries, which made him widely recognized as an accurate historical artist.
The first major gallery to give him a one-man show was the prestigious Hammer Galleries in New York City. He would have 13 additional one-man shows at the gallery in subsequent years, while his work was also being exhibited in museums nationwide.“An Afternoon with Mort Kunstler”, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, May 2015 Armand Hammer, founder of Hammer Galleries, supported, encouraged and promoted Künstler's work, helping him become recognized as one of America's leading historical artists. Hammer said "his paintings have continually confirmed his talent, and the caliber of Künstler's overall artistic output has now placed him at the forefront of contemporary realism."
As a result of major galleries and museums exhibiting his work, his career soon took on new dimensions. From his early popularity as an illustrator for pulp and popular magazines, then to movie posters, National Geographic images, and now to fine art historical paintings and prints, along with books of images, he was acknowledged as one of the few remaining artists of historical subjects.“Artist Mort Kunstler's career examined in new retrospective show”, The Berkshire Eagle, Nov. 14, 2014
1980–2025 In 1982, after getting a commission from CBS-TV to do a painting for the 3-part mini-series, The Blue and the Gray (televised November 1982,) Künstler's interest turned towards the American Civil War. By 1988 he was concentrating almost entirely on Civil War subjects, which eventually made him the “most collected Civil War artist in America.” His focus on that war led to him having the first one-man Civil War exhibitions at venues such as the Gettysburg National Battlefield, New York's Nassau County Museum of Art in 1998, the North Carolina Museum of History, Richmond's Museum of the Confederacy and other centers of art and history.”Civil War artist to unveil new piece at area gallery's grand opening Saturday,” The Gettysburg Times, (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania), June 29, 2007 p. 6 They included images of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg.Abraham Lincoln painting by Mort Kunstler
His exhibition at the Nassau County Museum, which lasted seven weeks, attracted more than 30,000 visitors, surpassing the previous attendance record set by a Picasso exhibition. The success of that exhibition led the museum to hold a second one-man show of his work in 2006.
To create his paintings, he undertook careful and painstaking research into the settings and events he would paint. It meant he needed to consult with expert historians and walk the actual battlefields before drawing them, always looking for landmarks to incorporate into the artwork.”The Art of War”, Lansing State Journal, Oct. 1, 1992, p. 29 This obsession to detail, he said, came from his experience illustrating men's magazines and his work for National Geographic. In preparation for his 1992 painting, “The Gunner and the Colonel,” for instance, he researched the exact uniforms the soldiers wore and even the weather on that day, to learn which way the wind was blowing so the flags were unfurled in the right direction.Painting, "The Gunner and the Colonel" by Mort Kunstler With each new painting, Künstler said he took on the role of a historian: