Charles M. Kerins (December 7, 1915 – January 1988) is an American illustrator and painter.

Education

He graduated from the

Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation's oldest art schools, and the only publicly funded independent art sch ...

and

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

. Kerins studied under sculptor Cyrus Dallin who had a profound effect on the artist's attention to anatomy in his paintings.

Career

Kerins chronicled the idealized American dream of the 1950s and 1960s in paintings which appeared as covers for

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

Yearbooks, Converse Yearbooks, Catholic Boy magazine and ads in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'', ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'', '' Look'', and ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' magazine. Oil portraits constituted much of his body of work. Portraits include; Wifred L. O'Leary,

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

Richard Cushing Richard James Cushing (August 24, 1895 – November 2, 1970) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing's main role was as fundraiser and builder ...

, Joseph Martin,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

among others. Kerins' studios were at

Scituate, Massachusetts Scituate () is a seacoast town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on the South Shore, midway between Boston and Plymouth. The population was 19,063 at the 2020 census. History The Wampanoag and their neighbors inhabited the ar ...

and Pocasset, Massachusetts. In classical tradition, Kerins worked from live models and used many local people, including a young

Mark Goddard Mark Goddard (born Charles Harvey Goddard; July 24, 1936 – October 10, 2023) was an American actor who starred in a number of television programs. He is probably best known for portraying Major Don West in the CBS series ''Lost in Space'' (1 ...

of ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. Lightly dramatic, sometimes comedic in tone, the series was inspired by the 1812 J ...

''. Working with both Speed Graphic and Polaroid cameras, the artist used photo references as well as life drawings in the creation of his paintings. Hallmarks of the artist's work are excellent anatomy and dynamic action. Though Kerins style is unique, it is sometimes compared to illustrators

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 ...

and

Harry Anderson Harry Laverne Anderson (October 14, 1952 – April 16, 2018) was an American actor, comedian and magician. He is best known for his role as Judge Harry Stone on the NBC sitcom ''Night Court'' (1984–1992). He later played Dave Barry on the C ...

Awards

He was named one of America's Top 100 Illustrators by the Chicago Art Directors Club in 1956.

Family

He was twice married. His first wife, Kathryn, mother of his eldest 4 children, was his agent for more than thirty years. Later in life he married Dona and had five more children.

References

External links

Charles Kerins Website

1915 births 1988 deaths Artists from Brookline, Massachusetts 20th-century American illustrators 20th-century American painters American male painters Massachusetts College of Art and Design alumni Northeastern University alumni People from Scituate, Massachusetts 20th-century American male artists {{US-painter-1910s-stub