Ken Eberts (born July 4, 1943) is an American painter who has been a major contributor to the automotive art genre. He is a founding member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society (AFAS), and has been its president since its inception in 1983. More than 1200 of his original paintings hang in the homes and galleries of art collectors around the world.Autoartgallery.com"A Celebration of Automotive Art" by Gerry Durnell, c 2005 Automobile Quarterly The best known of his works include "Dad's Home" and "California Pit Stop". Eberts has created the principal posters for seven of the

Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year on the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, California. It is widely considered the pinnacle event of its kind and one of the most prestigious car events in ...

."The Art of the Poster" by Robert Devlin 2003 In 2003, he was named Ford Motor Company's official Centennial Artist, following

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

who had been Ford's 50th Anniversary artist in 1953.

Early life

Ken Eberts was raised in the Bronx,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, by his parents Charles J. Eberts and Renee Eberts, née Sternberg. By his teenage years, Eberts drew constantly. He was encouraged in this by his Scottish grandmother, an amateur fine artist. Eberts' favorite artists were Norman Rockwell and

Andrew Wyeth Andrew Newell Wyeth ( ; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was an American visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century. In his ...

, but he was also drawn to movies of the 1930s and 1940s that featured automobiles and street scenes. In college, he designed and built a full size fiberglass sports car. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

, California. In 1965, Eberts was recruited by the Ford Motor Company in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

. He joined the design team responsible for the

Mercury Cougar Mercury Cougar is a nameplate applied to a diverse series of automobiles sold by the Mercury division of Ford from 1967 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2002. While the nameplate is most commonly associated with two-door coupes, at various times during ...

, Ford LTD and Galaxie, the 2nd generation Ford Econoline van and the Lincoln Continental Mark III. In 1966, Lockheed Aircraft hired him to join their design team for the L-1011 airliner.

Fine art and automotive art

After quitting Lockheed, he gave himself 5 years to see if he could sustain himself painting. He married in 1972. Eberts's work was being shown as "Americana" at galleries and shows. He developed his technique in watercolors and

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...

on smoothly textured illustration board. The unusual combination of techniques allowed him to capture the full detail of glass, chrome and leather. In 1981, he showed his work at the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance. Here he met five other artists specializing in automotive subjects. They decided to start an organization to promote recognition of a new genre: "automotive art."Monterey Herald August 12, 2015 James Raia The name of the organization became the Automotive Fine Art Society (AFAS). The organization's goal is to raise the standards of automotive art to a level of acceptance as serious fine from the perspective of collectors and critics. Since 1986, an 8000 sq. ft. exhibit area presents member works as attendees enter the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. In addition to its annual presence for 30 years in Pebble Beach, the AFAS is also a mainstay presenter at the

Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year during the second weekend in March at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island in Amelia Island, Florida. A ''The New York Times'' article about celebrity car ownership ...

in Amelia Island, Fla. AFAS has also exhibited at the Goodwood Revival and numerous museums.

Career awards and recognition

Eberts produced the show posters for the AACA National Fall Meet at Hershey, PA for 20 consecutive years, from 1996 to 2016. Eberts has created the principal posters for 7 of the Pebble Beach Concours d 'Elegance events. He has mounted over 30 one-artist shows. 50 of his paintings reside in the permanent collection of the Bank of America. Additional works are in the

Petersen Automotive Museum The Petersen Automotive Museum is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles. One of the world's largest automotive museums, the Petersen Automotive Museum is a nonprofit organization specializin ...

(Los Angeles) and the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum (Cleveland). In 2003, Eberts was named Ford Motor Company's official Centennial Artist, following Norman Rockwell who had been Ford's 50th Anniversary artist in 1953. In 2013, William Jeanes, former editor in chief of "Car & Driver" described Ken Eberts paintings:

"Ken's realistic, highly detailed technique creates scenes of America's past that.. somehow become a part of one's own past. His work... has a deja vu quality."

Eberts continues painting automotive art and producing commemorative posters for major car events. At the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance he won The Lincoln Motor Car company award, awarded for the most elegant artwork. His work showed the three

Ford GT40 The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car commissioned by the Ford Motor Company. It grew out of the "Ford GT" (for Grand Touring) project, an effort to compete in European long-distance sports car races, against Ferrari, which wo ...

s that formed the team that won

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

in 1966.

References

External links

AFAS

Automotive Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eberts, Ken 20th-century American painters 1945 births Living people 21st-century American painters Painters from New York City