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“Greta Kempton paints people, great and small, with a deep conviction that there is as much art in a portrait as in any other picture. Striving for perfect likeness with a blithe disregard for modernistic effects, she works also to portray character and personality without neglecting the balance, composition and effective use of material which distinguish any other fine painting. Her portraits are strong and positive, never vague. She uses choice of pose as well as brush to reveal her study of a subject’s entire being, but with frank emphasis on the best she finds in personality as well as in facial contours. She believes that a relative should recognize a portrait; that a stranger should be able to read a subject’s character almost as well in a painting as by looking at the person. Her many successes bolster her theories.”
— Corcoran Gallery of Art exhibition catalog, 1949
Greta Kempton was one of the greatest unheralded artists of the 20th century. Though she excelled in high society portraits, she also painted florals, still lifes, landscapes, and character studies. With a command of a diverse range of styles, her work has been compared to Rembrandt, Rubens, Renoir and Degas.
On these pages, you will discover the stories behind Greta Kempton’s most famous paintings, as well as fascinating facts about the artist herself. We hope these web pages will help illuminate Greta Kempton’s character, and celebrate the richness of her life and art.