Everett Raymond Kinstler

Everett Kinstler was born in 1926 in New York City, the son of Essie and Joseph Kinstler.[2][3] He started his career age 16, drawing comic books, paperback book covers, and book and magazine illustrations.[1] He studied at the Art Students League of New York and later taught there (1969 – 1974).[4] Kinstler also studied at the National Academy of Design.[4] Kinstler's influences included Alex Raymond, James Montgomery Flagg, Howard Chandler Christy, Milton Caniff, and Hal Foster.[4] Kinstler's pulp illustrations number in the hundreds, and cover many different genres including western, romance, crime, mystery, and war. Popular Publications was among the largest publishers of pulps in which his black-and-white illustrations appeared. In comic books, he was particularly known for his western and romance comic work. He worked extensively for Avon Periodicals, as well as Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, Dell/Western Publishing, National Periodicals/DC Comics, St. John Publications, Atlas Comics/Marvel Comics, and Gilberton. The titles he spent the most time on were Avon's Realistic Romances, Witchcraft, and White Princess of the Jungle; and Ziff-Davis/St. John's Nightmare. Beginning in the 1950s Kinstler shifted into the realm of portrait painting. He painted over 1200 portraits of leading figures in business, entertainment and government, including official portraits of eight U.S. Presidents, including Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.[1] Perhaps America's most important working portrait artist, Kinstler held a Portraits, Inc. Lifetime Achievement Award for which a university scholarship is awarded each year in his name.