Mort Knstler

For nearly thirty years, Mort Kunstler has focused his considerable artistic talent on interpreting the Civil War. In crafting his work to reflect poignant moments or critical circumstances of the conflict, he has turned to leading historians and scholars for informative details that he has then translated on canvas to create an indelible image of this defining ordeal in America's history. More than 160 of these images?supplemented by preliminary sketches, early studies, and photographs of works in progress?are the basis for this book. Kunstler has also explored the human side of this national struggle. Thus he has produced thoughtful studies of leaders at decisive moments, instances of daily camp life for the soldiers, and those early romantic notions that it would be a bloodless war, predicated on the belief that a show of inner strength would prevail. In the past twenty years, Kunstler's portfolio has been published in twelve books, including companion pieces for the epic films ? Ge

This final volume of Mort Künstler's Civil War paintings covers the almost two-year period from the last shots fired at Gettysburg to the conclusion of the war and the beginning of national restoration. This time was punctuated with costly clashes at various crossroads in Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee. While the outcome of the war seemed inevitable, final victory proved to be as elusive as it had been since the first shots of the war. Events from the summer of 1863 to the spring of 1864—Ulysses S. Grant's victory at Vicksburg, the aftermath of Gettysburg, the Confederate raid into Indiana and Ogio, the Confederate attack at Chicakmunga and the siege of Chattanooga, and Grant's appearance in Washington as general in chief—are portrayed by Künstler's The Glorious Fourth, Veterans of Gettysburg, Morgan's Ohio Raid, Eye of the Storm, and White House Gala. The artist's brush shows a countryside in flames after the battle of the Wilderness, with Grant's line advancing toward Petersburg, where Lee's army is trapped, and William T. Sherman leaving Atlanta to march almost unopposed across Georgia toward Savannah in No Turning Back, The Bloody Angle, and "War Is Hell!" The ruination of the Confederate Army of Tennessee at Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville in late 1864; the capture of Fort Fisher near Wilmington, North Carolina, in January 1865; and the surrender at Appomattox Court House are portrayed in Confederate Crossing, Bringing Cleburne In, The Gunner and the Colonel, "We Still Love You, General Lee," and Salute of Honor. In assessing this volume of paintings, Professor James I. Robertson comments, "No artist is more aware of the Civil War's human emotions than Mort Künstler.... [He] has that rare talent of not only capturing on canvas a moment in time; he has an enviable ability to bring a scene alive and give it feeling. years of effort and dedication have made the name Mort Künstler the hallmark of Civil War art."

For nearly thirty years, Mort Künstler has focused his considerable artistic talent on interpreting the Civil War. In crafting his work to reflect poignant moments or critical instances of the conflict, he has turned to leading historians and scholars?such as Henry Steele Commager, James McPherson, William C. Davis, and James I. Robertson Jr.?for informative details that he has then translated on canvas to create an indelible image of this defining ordeal in America's history. More than 160 of these images?supplemented by preliminary sketches, early studies, and photographs of works in progress?are the basis for the four volumes in this series.