Big Eyed Kids Movement

Its funny how certain things remain in our memories... especially shapes and colours and smells and sounds. I came across this great print recently and didn't really know why it was special. I just knew that it resonated with something in my memory and took it home to find out more... I recalled that my childhood best friend had "Big Eyed Columbines" hanging in her bedroom, but it was a style that I recognised from imagery in my childhood.

What I discovered was the "Big Eyed Kid" movement also known as the "Keane Eyed Kids". These were heavily mass produced prints made and widely distributed in the 1960s and 1970s.

There is some dispute about who was the originator of the Keane Eyes Movement. According to a Wikipedia article, Walter Keane claimed that his inspiration for the Big Eyed style came from the people he saw in Europe after World War II and was quoted as saying,  "My psyche was scarred in my art student days in Europe, just after World War II, by an ineradicable memory of war-wracked innocents. In their eyes lurk all of mankind's questions and answers. If mankind would look deep into the soul of the very young, he wouldn't need a road map. I wanted other people to know about those eyes, too. I want my paintings to clobber you in the heart and make you yell, 'DO SOMETHING!"

This claim was disputed, however, by "Margaret Keane" whose work can be found at: http://www.keane-eyes.com/. The Wikipedia article goes on to document a running battle between the family that started out painting and exhibiting together, but ended up in court fighting over who was the originator of the "Big Eyes" style. Both Margaret and Walter Keane's work was collected widely, with Walter being quoted in 1991 as saying, "I painted the waifs of the world." Margaret won the lawsuit and is now widely recognised as the original creator of the style and also Walter's work.
Many other artists also worked in this style including:- Gig, Eden, Eve, Lee, Franka, Maio, Goji, Sherle, Igor and Miki.

The typical common feature of these works was large exagerated heads and large eyes, often tiny button noses. The poses and drawing style are typically niave as is the subject matter- children, pussy cats and puppies, columbines, sad clowns- vulnerable subjects; often with tears near overflowing or a tear running down the cheek. Considered very kitsch by some, and because of their mass prodcution they are still not terribly valuable, however, their popularity has increased in recent times as more people begin to collect them.

I thought that this one that I found was particularly interesting, as it contains native Australian fauna and what looks like an aboriginal child posing with the flowers in front of her chest and wearing only a strategically tied cloth over her groin. In terms of historical representation it shows the naive attitude towards Australia's indigenous people as represented in white pop art in the 1960s and 1970s. It's also a great piece for any collector of "Big Eyed" art.

Print available for sale at: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70207683/1960s-1970s-aboriginal-big-eyed-kid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Keane

http://besmirched.tripod.com/margaret.html

A new movie about Margaret Keane's life is also due to be made in June.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20176423,00.html