Margaret Keane, the artist known for her large-eyed paintings, has died at the age of 94.
Keane was embroiled in a legal battle for her labor rights after her husband claimed credit, a story told by Tim Burton in the 2014 film Big Eyes. Her daughter Jane Swigert confirmed her death in home in Napa, California, as a result of heart failure.
Born Peggy Doris Hawkins, she studied design in New York City before finding work painting cribs in the 1950s. She soon moved into her own art before meeting Walter Keane in 1955. She discovered her trademark paintings, children with sad-looking dish eyes, and began selling them to comedy clubs, taking credit for them.
After convincing her it was a more realistic solution, he accepted the deception and told the Guardian in 2014 that he was “destroying” it. In the 1960s, paintings were ubiquitous, with stars like Dean Martin and Joan Crawford buying the originals. Andy Warhol said at the time, “I think what Keane has done is fantastic. It has to be good. If it were bad, a lot of people wouldn’t like it.”
But art critics were not impressed, and in 1964, at the World’s Fair, a large-scale painting called Tomorrow Forever was called a “tasteless pirate work” in the New York Times before it was quickly removed. “When people said they were just sentimental things, it hurt my feelings,” he said. “Some people couldn’t stand or look at them. I don’t know why, just a violent reaction. “
Amy Adams and Big Eyes. Photo: The Weinstein Company / Allstar
The couple divorced shortly afterwards and in 1970, announced that she was the real artist. In 1986 he sued both Walter Keane and USA Today for claiming that he was behind the paintings. He won the case after a “painting” in court, but never received his $ 4 million in damages because Walter Keane was bankrupt.
His story later became the 2014 Big Eyes film, starring Amy Adams, which sparked a brief resurgence in the popularity of his work. He said watching the film was a “traumatic” experience.
The co-writer of the film, Larry Karaszewski, paid tribute to him on Facebook. “Grateful we were all able to spend so much time getting to know her beautiful spirit,” she wrote. “It took a decade to bring Big Eyes to the screen. But his story of surviving abuse was important. He wanted the world to know the truth about his life and his art.”
In 2018, the Los Angeles art show awarded him a prize for his career during a retrospective of his work. She called it “a real blessing.”
His death was reported today on his official Facebook page. “We are saddened to announce that Margaret Keane, ‘The Mother of the Big Eyes, Our Queen, a Modern Teacher and Legend,’ died peacefully Sunday morning at her home in Napa, CA, was 94 years old.”