Kenneth Pauling Riley (1919–2015), often called Ken Riley, was an American realist history painter of the Old West, a prolific illustrator, and a war artist in the Pacific during World War II.''The Eddie Basha Collection''.

Life

He was born in

Waverly, Missouri Waverly is a city in Lafayette County, Missouri, and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area within the United States. The population was 849 at the 2010 census. Waverly is the location of Baltimore Bend Winery, one of the many small wineries ...

in 1919, but grew up in Kansas where his ability was first recognized at the Kansas City Art Institute.''ArtzLine''. After studying there, and under

Frank DuMond Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teac ...

and Harvey Dunn, Riley began work as an illustrator of pulp fiction in 1941, but with the entry of the United States into World War II later that year he enlisted and was sent out to the Pacific as a war artist. After the war his success increased, and one of his paintings, "The Whites of Their Eyes", depicting the

Battle of Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the first stage of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in ...

, was acquired by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

for the White House collection. He died in 2015.

Accolades

Awards * Prix de West at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, 1995; * Eiteljog Museum Award for excellence in American Art.''Mormon Literature & Creative Arts''. Honors * Charter member of the National Academy of Western Artists; * Member of the

Cowboy Artists of America The Cowboy Artists of America (CAA) is an exclusive organization of artists that was founded in 1965. It was founded in 1965 by four prominent western artists, Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, John Hampton and George Phippen, who have all since died. Since ...

, 1982.

Gallery

File:"Remember the River Raisin!" by Ken Riley.jpg, ''"Remember the River Raisin!"'' File:Lafayette and the National Guard by Ken Riley.jpg, ''Lafayette and the National Guard'' File:The Mississippi Rifles.jpg, ''The Mississippi Rifles''

References

Sources

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External links