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Walter Stanley Keane (October 7, 1915 – December 27, 2000) was an American plagiarist, who became famous in the 1960s, as claimed painter of a series of widely reproduced paintings depicting vulnerable waifs with enormous eyes.〔 The paintings were in fact painted by his wife Margaret Keane. When she made this fact public, Walter Keane retaliated with a ''USA Today'' article that again claimed he had done the work. In 1986 Margaret Keane sued Walter and ''USA Today''. In the subsequent slander suit, the judge demanded that the litigants paint a painting in the courtroom, but Walter declined, citing a sore shoulder. Margaret then produced a painting, in 53 minutes, for the jurors. The jury awarded her damages of $4 million. ==Biography== Keane was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in October 7, 1915, one of 10 children from his father's second marriage. His mother, Alma Christina (Johnson) Keane, was from Denmark; and his father, William Robert Keane, was of Irish descent.〔https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCKJ-YQW〕 Keane grew up near the center of Lincoln and made money by selling shoes. In the early 1930s, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he attended Los Angeles City College.〔 He moved to Berkeley, California, in the 1940s with his wife, Barbara (née Ingham), and went into real estate; both were real estate brokers. Their first child, a son, died shortly after birth in the hospital. In 1947, they had a healthy baby girl, Susan Hale Keane. In July 1948, Walter and Barbara bought the stately John J. Cairns House at 2729 Elmwood Avenue,〔Ormsby Donogh Real Estate Files, Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.〕 designed by Berkeley architect Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr.〔Berkeley Building Permit #483, March 8, 1910.〕〔Bruce, Anthony. ''Walter H. Ratcliff, Jr., Architect: His Berkeley Work''. Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, 2006, p.8.〕 In 1948, the Keanes traveled to Europe, living in Heidelberg and later Paris. When they returned to their home in Berkeley, they began an educational toy business called "Susie Keane's Puppeteens", teaching children to speak French through the use of handmade puppets, phonograph records and a book. The "ballroom" of their large home became an assembly line of hand-painted "wide eyed" wooden puppets, with various intricately made costumes. The puppets were sold in high-end stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The True Story of the 'Keane Eyes' )〕 Barbara Keane later became head of her own department in dress design at the University of California, Berkeley. Walter Keane subsequently closed both his real estate firm and the toy company, in order to work full-time to his painting. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1952. At a fairground in 1953, Walter met an artist making charcoal sketches, Margaret (Doris Hawkins) Ulbrich. Margaret married Walter Keane in 1955.〔 They separated on November 1, 1964.〔〔 Walter Keane married his third wife, Joan Mervin, after his divorce from Margaret in 1965. They had two children in the early 1970s, while living in London. This marriage also ended in divorce. Keane was 85 when he died on December 27, 2000 in Encinitas, California.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Walter Keane」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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