Raymond Kursar (born 1944) is an American artist, illustrator and graphic designer; known for his Broadway play posters, fine giclee limited edition prints and the movie classic ''Gone with the Wind'' collector's plate collection.

Early art training

Kursar art career training began in 1966. He attended the School of Advertising Arts in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. This exposure afforded him an artistic position in the advertising department of Lipman & Wolf Company. After honing his illustration skills at Lipman & Wolf Company by 1969 he saved enough money to relocate to New York City. There Kursar was hired by a Madison Avenue advertising agency from 1969 to 1972 where he created product and label packaging designs. In 1973 to 1979 Kursar began illustrating for several publishing houses and greeting card manufactures. He created greeting cards for the American Artist's Group as many contemporary artists like Chen Chi,

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, Ralph Avery, Hans Moller, who also created seasonal greeting card designs year after year for the American Artist's Group.

Illustrations

From 1979 to 1985 Kursar illustrated a number of today's popular American magazines, and his illustrations appeared in ''

Ladies Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

'', ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

'', ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' and '' National Lampoon''. He has also illustrated hundreds of

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

covers for book publishers such as

Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...

Ace Books Ace Books is a publisher of science fiction (SF) and fantasy books founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn. It began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, and soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first scienc ...

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

and

Pocket Books Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. History Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing in ...

& Zebra Books, Avon, Fawcett, Ballantine, Doubleday, Charles Scribner & Sons, etc. In 1979 Kursar was commissioned by the Knowles China Plate Company to illustrate on fine china the movie classic ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Win ...

''. This collectable plate collection was featured as the cover story in the June 1983 issue of ''Plate World Magazine''.

Posters and fine art prints

Kursar illustrated posters for Shakespeare in the Park and created poster art for numerous events and Broadway plays including ''Grease'', ''Hello Dolly'', ''City Of Angles'', ''The Good Doctor'', ''That Championship Season'', and ''Legend''. Kursar was also commissioned to do artwork for album covers for the works of classical guitarist

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students. Segovia's contribution to the m ...

and jazz musician Louis Armstrong. Kursar has also created art pieces & posters for producer

Joseph Papp Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created a y ...

, writer

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...

and magician Harry Blackstone. Kursar also prepared poster art for Big Apple Circus and the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. Currently Kursar fine art prints are presented on Artmajeur a leading online art gallery that features a collection of contemporary artists. Artmajeur also provides tools for artists and gallery managers to promote and sell artwork including paintings, sculptures, photography and fine art prints.

References

*''National Lampoon'' magazine cover illustration for December 197
"Giving Uncle a Real Clipping."
*''National Lampoon'' magazine cover illustration for May 197

External links

Official websiteWebsite Features the Romantic Art of Artist Raymond KursarThe Annual Illustrators 13
* ttp://www.mariettaga.gov/gwtw/ The Marietta Gone with the Wind Museum in Marietta, Georgia – Exhibits the Gone with the Wind "Collectors' Edition" of fine Giclee prints by the artist.br>Artmajeur is a Leading Online Art Gallery that feature an exclusive collection of the best contemporary artists.Sweet Savage Flame Featuring the Paperback Book Covers of Kursar Art.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kursar, Raymond American illustrators Living people 1944 births Artists from Portland, Oregon Artists from New York City