Mort Ktinstler, the premier historical artist in America today, has focused on the Civil War for over twenty years. Immersed in a life-long research of the subject, he works closely with historians and scholars to ensure the accuracy of each painting. Collected in this volume, for the first time in his career, are over 150 of Mort Kunstler’s paintings chronicling the Civil War, including numerous portraits, sketches and studies...

Mort Ktinstler, the premier historical artist in America today, has focused on the Civil War for over twenty years. Immersed in a life-long research of the subject, he works closely with historians and scholars to ensure the accuracy of each painting. Collected in this volume, for the first time in his career, are over 150 of Mort Kunstler’s paintings chronicling the Civil War, including numerous portraits, sketches and studies.

Many of his most dramatic paintings depict critical battles-he has done over thirty-five paintings on the battle of Gettysburg alone-but Kunstler also humanizes the defining conflict of the United States. The portrayal of encamped heroic leaders, the struggles of daily life for soldiers far from home, and the romance of antebellum life, all contribute to our understanding of the Civil War.

In 1982, Mort Kunsder, already well known for his authentic and dramatic historical paintings, was commissioned by CBS-TV to do a Civil War painting for the miniseries, The Blue and the Gray. His research on that painting further increased his interest in the Civil War. In 1988, Ktinstler embarked on a large painting in honor of the 125th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg. Painstaking research ensured that the result-a view looking south at Cemetery Ridge at the turning point of the battle-was meticulously correct. The painting, The High Water Mark, was unveiled at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum on July 2, 1988. Kunstler has concentrated almost exclusively on Civil War subjects ever since.

He has been the subject of more than a dozen books including The American Spirit: The Paintings of Mort Kiinstler, with text by Henry Steele Commager and Images of the Civil War: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler, with text by James McPherson. Gettysburg: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler, was published by Turner Publishing as a companion piece to the epic feature film and mini-series Gettysburg. In 2001, Mr. Kunstler was named the official artist for the motion picture Gods and Generals, and in 2002 Greenwich Workshop Press published, Gods and Generals: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler, with text by James I. Robertson, Jr.

One-man exhibitions of Mort Kunstler’s paintings have been mounted at distinguished museums including the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn, New York, the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia, Gettysburg National Military Park, and the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

FOREWORD BY JAMES I. ROBERTSON, JR.

1861

THE GREAT DECISION

1862

IN THE HANDS OF PROVIDENCE

1863

TACTICS AND STRATEGY

GETTYSBURG

THREE DAYS THAT TURNED THE TIDE

1864

"WAR IS HELL"

1865

THE WORLD FOREVER CHANGED

MORT KUNSTLER

A LIFE IN ART AND HISTORY BY M. STEPHEN DOHERTY

INDEXES