Posted on 04/10/2012 12:49:24 PM PDT by robowombat
Autopsy for painter Thomas Kinkade Monday, April 09, 2012 By Martin Barillas
The famed ‘painter of light’ Thomas Kinkade once said that his fervent wish was to make people happy. And judging by the numbers of his painters and copies circulating around the world, he indeed made many thousands of people happy with his work. Kinkade passed away on April 6 in Los Gatos, a suburb in the San Francisco Bay area. He claimed to be the nation's most collected living artist, earning him a reported $100 million a year in sales. It is reported that his work is found in 10 million homes in the United States alone. Before his Media Arts Group went private, the company took in $32 million per quarter from 4,500 dealers across the U.S. The cost of his paintings range from hundreds of dollars to more than $10,000. He often appeared at Christian churches across the country,.
An autopsy is expected on April 9 by the Santa Clara County coroner. No cause of death has been announced for the 54-year-old Kinkade who had been described as a devout Christian. According to business associates and interviews, the successful painted had dealt with his alcohol abuse, and a 2010 mug shot following an arrest went viral after a drunken driving charge. He pleaded no contest to that charge. He had also been separated for more than a year from his wife, Nanette, with who he had four daughters, all of whom had ‘Christian’ as a middle name. "Thom provided a wonderful life for his family," his wife, Nanette Kinkade, said in a statement. "We are shocked and saddened by his death."
Besides his wife, and their daughters Merritt, Chandler, Winsor and Everett, Kinkade is survived by a brother, Pat, who worked for the painter’s company. Thomas Kinkade Co. officials sent a message to distributors on April 6 that the business will continue as usual. A memorial on his website featured Mathew 5:4: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." He was mourned by family and friend at Los Gatos on April 6.
sorry but poker playing dogs on velvet just ain’t my taste..
I didn't know he used the paint-by-numbers method. That explains a lot.
Too bad he is gone. He did really beautiful work that many of us really enjoy.
Kinkade was an innovator, no doubt, but his art became kind of pedestrian with so much repetition. He also had problems with proportion and depth of field that prevented his art from transcending the line between kitschy greeting card art and ‘masterpiece’ art.
Grammar Car 54 where are you?
Grammar Car 54 where are you?
I see you’re well informed regarding his work.......
I stand corrected....
he actually used surrogates and assembly line techniques.
he would paint a small bit or a stroke on a painting and claim it as his own and charge accordingly.
Yep. Something wrong here. The whole thing is grammatically clumsy. It’s hard to believe that a professional writer penned this.
http://www.deskpapers.com/thomas-kinkade.html
The Medical Examiner will have to wear sunglasses to avoid being blinded by the Thousand Points Of Light he’ll find.....
Hard to fault him too much for that. Famous painters have regularly done that, hence all the "School of X" paintings.
His paintings were definitely emotional and lowbrow. That does not necessarily mean they were bad. I read a piece of serious criticism of his work a year or so ago (from NRO?). Conclusion was that his early stuff was very good, but he got lazy and sloppy over the years.
The pictures all look like greeting card illustrations. Nothing could be worse
Condolences to family and friends of Thomas Kinkade.
Makes Kinkade look like Rembrandt.
Alcohol — “cunning, baffling, and powerful.” Having been granted a reprieve from that horrible addiction, my heart and prayers go out to anyone still under its deadly spell.
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