Exhibition: "For Us the Living" Civil War Paintings by Mort Kunstler

"For Us the Living"

THE CIVIL WAR

in paintings by

MORT KÜNSTLER

 Nassau County Museum of Art

September 25, 2010 through January 9, 2011

Sponsored by Mill-Max Mfg. Corp.

Sponsored in part by Astoria Federal Savings

 "It is for us the living rather to be

dedicated here to the unfinished

work which they who fought here

have thus far so nobly advanced."

Abraham Lincoln

Gettysburg Address, 1863

In commemoration of the coming 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA) presents Civil War paintings by Mort Künstler. On view from September 25, 2010 through January 9, 2011, "For Us the Living" THE CIVIL WAR in paintings by MORT KÜNSTLER is accompanied by a fully illustrated book of the same title issued by Sterling Publishing. The book will be available at NCMA's Gift Shop.

"For Us the Living" THE CIVIL WAR in paintings by MORT KÜNSTLER portrays the sights, feelings and drama of the Civil War. The exhibition consists of approximately 50 paintings accompanied by a selection of documentary objects. Many of the paintings are from Künstler's own collection, others are from various private and public collections. For the first time, visitors to a Künstler exhibition will gain an inside look into the artist's creative process through a display of his sketches, drawings, preliminary studies, photographs and props. This major exhibition fills the museum's first and second floor galleries.

Mort Künstler is regarded by many as the leading contemporary painter of Civil War scenes. His work is esteemed for its dramatic intensity and for an extraordinary level of authenticity that results from intensive research. Dr. James I. Robertson Jr., the noted Civil War historian and author of the biography, Stonewall Jackson, says, "Mort Künstler is the foremost Civil War artist of our time – if not of all time." Harold Holzer, a senior official at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and one of the nation's leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era, says of Künstler: "His art is terrific, and he's attracted thousands of people to Civil War art." Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson agrees, "Of all the artists working in the Civil War field, none captures the human element, the aura of leadership, the sense of being there and sharing in the drama quite like Mort Künstler." NCMA's 1998 exhibition, The Civil War: The Paintings of Mort Künstler, broke attendance records and stands as one of the museum's top-drawing shows.

A resident of Oyster Bay, NY, Mort Künstler studied art at Brooklyn College, UCLA and Pratt Institute. He became a highly successful illustrator, working on assignments for Newsweek, Saturday Evening Post, Mad Magazine and Boy's Life. Accuracy became firmly imbued into Künstler's art beginning with assignments of historical topics from National Geographic; these assignments also taught him the value of working with noted historians. A commission from CBS-TV to do the paintings for the mini-series, The Blue and The Gray, was the beginning of the artist's close association with the Civil War. The High Water Mark, a painting executed for that series, is considered a highly accurate and moving depiction of the battle at Gettysburg. It was unveiled at Gettysburg National Military Park Museum in 1988 in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the battle.

In conjunction with "For Us the Living" THE CIVIL WAR in paintings by MORT KÜNSTLER, the museum will offer several public programs to enhance the experience of the exhibition. Among them are Private Tea & Tour of the Exhibition on October 6 and November 17; a visit in the galleries with "General A.P. Hill," a typical Civil War soldier, on October 16; a conversation with Mort Künstler on October 17; a reenactment of a Civil War skirmish on October 23; and signings of Mort Künstler's new book, For Us the Living, on November 14 and December 5. For details, go to nassaumuseum.org/events.

Nassau County Museum of Art is located at One Museum Drive (just off Northern Boulevard, Route 25A, two traffic lights west of Glen Cove Road) in Roslyn Harbor. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Docent-led tours of the exhibition are offered at 2 p.m. each day. Admission to the galleries in the Arnold & Joan Saltzman Fine Art Building is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (62+) and $4 for students and children (4-12). Admission includes entrance to the Art Space for Children. Members are admitted free. There is a $2 parking fee on weekends (no charge to members). The Gift Shop is open during museum hours. Grace's Café is open Tuesday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Nassau County Museum of Art is chartered by New York State as a not-for-profit private educational institution and museum. A privately elected board of trustees is responsible for its governance. The museum is funded through income derived from admissions, parking, membership, special events, private donations and corporate sponsorships, as well as federal and state grants.

Call (516) 484-9337 for current exhibitions, events, hours and directions or log onto nassaumuseum.org.