KEANE…”PEACE ON EARTH”…

Submitted by k2dtw December 22nd, 2010
Certifikitsch Winner

KEANE… “PEACE ON EARTH”…
This is a very recognizable print from Margaret Keane, signed Keane ’61…titled “Peace on Earth”..
It is very colorful and as far as size, it’s the largest 33″ x 28″ Keane print that I have in my little collection. I loved them in the 1960’s, and bought a few???.. I’ve since found a few more, just can’t resist them.
The J L Hudson Department store in downtown Detroit in the 60’s had a artist supply shop on the 4th floor, and they carried the Keane Big-Eyed Kids. They were huge, I would love to know how many they sold.
I found this Keane print for cheap, in one of those Antique Malls that goes on for days, it was hanging over the door in a room somewhere way in the back. The mall was shocked that I found it…and then they reluctantly had to find a ladder to get it down…and then there was that uncomfortable moment when i knew that they knew that I knew what it was.. I was thankful that it was priced…or we might have lost that “Peace on Earth” feeling…smile.

11 Responses to “KEANE…”PEACE ON EARTH”…”

  1. Allee Willis

    I can’t believe that I’ve never saw this Keane print before… Beautiful!

    I’ve seen a lot of the original Keane paintings. There are even more vibrant than the prints and practically leap off the canvas. If you haven’t seen my blog post about meeting Margaret Keane check it out: https://www.alleewillis.com/blog/2010/03/31/allee-willis-kitsch-o-the-day-‚Äì-the-only-thing-better-then-a-keane-painting-is-to-be-with-keane/

    Just hearing you mention the artist supplies shop at J.L. Hudson’s makes me swoon! I always got so excited as the escalator approached that floor as a kid.

    • k2dtw

      Thank you… I loved reading about the Margaret Keane exhibit, which I thought was a perfect match with the Phyllis Morris Gallery! Loved learning about the Phyllis Morris Poodle designs, and the beautiful PM Gallery…exciting evening!!! …Wish the Keane exhibit would tour???….would be so much fun..

  2. Nessa

    It’s fantastic!! I love the expressions on their faces. I too know that feeling of Antique-Mall dread… how lucky of you. =) Also I love that you remember seeing Keane prints at Hudson’s… what a marvelous store it must have been.

    • k2dtw

      Thank you… I always thought the little girl in yellow looked like Goldie Hawn??… but it’s too early dated 1961..
      Yes it was a fab store, my beloved Hudson’s downtown store…sigh. We still have a wonderful Macy’s (thank god) in/at what were all of the Hudson’s beautiful branch stores. But, the downtown store was just so wonderful. We have gone to Chicago, to Marshall Fields’s (now Macy’s)…for a downtown department store fix…smile..

        • Allee Willis

          My mother took me shopping at Marshall Fields in Chicago when my father took a business trip there in the late 50s. ‚ÄúOn the Street Where You Live‚Äù by Eddie Fisher was playing when we walked into the store. I was so excited to be on the escalator, the longest one I’ve ever been on, that it instantly became my favorite song and has remained right up there ever since. The bad news is that I was so focused on the escalator and that song that I lost my mother, who was completely panic stricken until I showed up back at the Drake Hotel an hour later. I was so proud of myself for finding my way back and spent the 50 cents I had as spending money on a little rubber squirt gun camera I saw on the way home. But to say that my mother wasn’t happy about it was an understatement. I promised to pay more attention after that and not be so diverted by music. Ha ha. Also, I was the first person of anyone I knew to buy a cell phone when they first came out in the early 80s. As soon as I heard about cell phones I thought of the Marshall Fields incident and knew I had to have one.

  3. windupkitty

    wow, this is fabulous! what a find!!!!! i grew up with these around (my aunt collected them) though they were mostly prints form the 80s.my mom had margaret keene dolls too…they really creeped us kids out, not to mention my dad!!!