The High Water Mark

Details

Mort Künstler (b. 1931)
The High Water Mark
signed with conjoined initials and dated '© MKunstler '88' (lower left)
oil on canvas
30 x 56 in. (76.2 x 142.3 cm.)

Literature

Express, Federal Express Corp., Memphis, Tennessee, Fall 1988, p. 23, illustrated.
Hammer Galleries, Mort Künstler: Epic Paintings of America, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1989, pp. 24-25, illustrated.
Civil War 1990 Calendar, Stamford, Connecticut, 1999, illustrated.
First Day Issue, Philatelic History of the Civil War Featuring Artwork by Mort Künstler, “Battle of Shiloh Commences, April 6, 1862” MBI: Postal Commemorative Society, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1990, Section D (34), illustrated.
First Day Issue, Philatelic History of the Civil War Featuring Artwork by Mort Künstler, “Battle of Wilson’s Creek, August 10, 1861” MBI: Postal Commemorative Society, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1990, Section B (20), illustrated.
First Day Issue, Philatelic History of the Civil War Featuring Artwork by Mort Künstler, “Second Battle of Bull Run, August 29, 1862” MBI: Postal Commemorative Society, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1990, Section J (45), illustrated.
First Day Issue, Philatelic History of the Civil War Featuring Artwork by Mort Künstler, “Union Victory at Cheat Mountain, September 11, 1861” MBI: Postal Commemorative Society, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1990, Section C (23), illustrated.
First Day Issue, Philatelic History of the Civil War Featuring Artwork by Mort Künstler, “Battle of the Wilderness Begins, May 5, 1864” MBI: Postal Commemorative Society, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1992, Section H (72), illustrated.
First Day Issue, Philatelic History of the Civil War Featuring Artwork by Mort Künstler, “Southern Troops Repulse Northern Troops at the Battle of McDowell, May 8, 1862” MBI: Postal Commemorative Society, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1992, Section I (36), illustrated.
First Day Issue, Philatelic History of the Civil War Featuring Artwork by Mort Künstler, “Battle of Cold Harbor, June 1, 1861” MBI: Postal Commemorative Society, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1992, Section A (75), illustrated.
J.M. McPherson, Images of the Civil War, New York, 1992, pp. 116-117, p. 180, illustrated.
Images of the Civil War: An Exhibition of Paintings by Mort Künstler, exhibition catalogue, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 1992, illustrated.
Educational Media Project, “The American People: Fabric of a Nation,” National Geographic Society, 1992, disc location 52858.
J.M. McPherson, Gettysburg: The Paintings of Mort Künstler, Atlanta, Georgia, 1993, pp. 5, 8, 96-97, 118, illustrated.
Civil War 1994 Calendar, Delafield, Wisconsin, illustrated.
J.I. Robertson, Jackson & Lee: Legends in Gray: The Paintings of Mort Künstler, Nashville, Tennessee, 1995, pp. 134-135, 174, illustrated.
J.I. Robertson, Jackson & Lee: Legends in Gray: The Paintings of Mort Künstler, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1995, pp. 134-135, 174, illustrated.
America’s Civil War, vol. 8 no. 2, May 1995, pp. 54-55, illustrated.
1995 Gettysburg Calendar, Nashville, Tennessee, 1995, illustrated.
M. Shaara, The Killer Angels, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1996, pp. 304-305, illustrated.
W.C. Davis, Battlefields of the Civil War, Norman, Oklahoma, 1996, cover illustration.
Educational Media Project, National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C., The Civil War, illustrated in color, 1996.
G. Boritt, ed., Why the South Lost, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1996, frontispiece illustration.
Collector Cards, The Civil War – The Art of Mort Künstler, Saddle Brook, New Jersey, 1996, card 13.
1996 Gettysburg Calendar, Nashville, Tennessee, cover illustration.
M. Künstler, Mort Künstler’s Civil War: The North, Nashville, Tennessee, 1997, pp. 8, 105, 115.
M. Künstler, Mort Künstler's Civil War: The South, Nashville, Tennessee, 1997, pp. 152-159, illustrated.
C. Reardon, Pickett’s Charge in History and Memory, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1997, p. 210.
Collector Cards, The Blue and the Gray: Civil War Art by Mort Künstler, Saddle Brook, New Jersey, 1997, cards 11 and 12.
The Civil War: The Paintings of Mort Künstler, exhibition catalogue, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York, 1998, p. 52, illustrated.
1999 Civil War Calendar, Baltimore, Maryland, 1999, illustrated.
Television documentary, SCETV, Columbia, South Carolina, 1999.
J.I. Robertson, Jr. The Confederate Spirit: Valor, Sacrifice, and Honor. The Paintings of Mort Künstler. Nashville, Tennessee, 2000, p. 52, 58-59, 190, illustrated.
M. Kilian, Murder at Manassas, New York, 2000, cover illustration.
Video, Finley-Holiday Film Co., Whittier, California, Civil War, 2000.
Civil War Collector’s Calendar 2000, Delafield, Wisconsin, 2000.
J.I. Robertson, The Confederate Spirit: The Paintings of Mort Künstler, Nashville, Tennessee, 2001, p. 52.
M. Künstler, The Civil War Art of Mort Künstler. Seymour, CT: Greenwich Workshop Press, 2004, illustrated in color, pp. 162-163.
M. Künstler, The Civil War Paintings of Mort Künstler, Volume 3: The Gettysburg Campaign. Nashville, Tennessee, 2007, pp.196-203, illustrated.
M.S. Doherty, “Mort Künstler,” Illustration, vol. 6, no. 24, Fall 2008, pp. 78-79, illustrated.
U.S. History, 2009, Palo Alto, California, illustrated.
J.I. Robertson, Jr., For Us The Living: The Civil War in Paintings and Eyewitness Accounts-The Art of Mort Künstler, New York, 2010, pp. 174-175, illustrated.
Newsletter, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, South Carolina, 2011.

Exhibited

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Gettysburg National Military Park Museum, July 2, 1988.
New York, Hammer Galleries, Mort Künstler: Epic Paintings of America, December 5, 1989-January 3, 1990.
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Gettysburg Cyclorama at Gettysburg National Military Park, Images of the Civil War: An Exhibition of Paintings by Mort Künstler, May 15-August 1, 1992.
Raleigh, North Carolina, North Carolina Museum of History, Legends in Gray: The Civil War Paintings of Mort Künstler, September 17, 1995-January 28, 1996.
Roslyn, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, Mort Künstler: Civil War Painting, January 10-March 1, 1998.
Roslyn, New York, Nassau County Museum of Art, The American Spirit: The Paintings of Mort Künstler, May 28-August 13, 2006.
Allentown, Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, Mort Künstler, Premier Historical Artist, Exhibits 50 Works in Allentown, October 18-March 1, 2015.

Brought to you by

Abigail Bisbee

abisbee@christies.com 212-636-2140

Lot Essay

"The painting, called "The High Water Mark," [is] meticulous in its depiction of the clash known as Pickett's Charge, an epic battle between Union General George Meade's forces and Confederate General Robert E. Lee's forces on July 3, 1863, historically recognized as the turning point in the Civil War. Künstler's rendering puts the viewer right in the middle of the battle as Southern troops attempt their brave but futile effort to break the Union line of cannons and infantry. It was unveiled at the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum on July 2, 1988, in commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the battle." (T. Higgins, "Mort Künstler, Premier Historical Artist, Exhibits 50 Works in Allentown," The Morning Call, October 11, 2014.)

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