Riley, Kenneth

Western Artist Kenneth Riley is dedicated not only to authenticity, ethnography and history,

but also to allegory and spirituality. His work has been called classical,

sophisticated, gentle and sensitive.
 

Descended from Irish immigrants on his father’s side and Dutch farmers on his

mother’s, he was born in Waverly, a small town by the bend of a river in north-

central Missouri in 1919.
  

World War II found Coast Guard Specialist Second Class Kenneth Riley on duty as

one of the conflict’s most honored combat artists. Following the war, Riley

found fame as an illustrator, starting with The Saturday Evening Post and later

working with Life and National Geographic. After he was chosen to paint Teton

and Yellowstone National Parks as part of the Society of Illustrators’ Artists

in the Parks program and was invited to teach at Brigham Young University in

Utah, Riley decided to move West to pursue a fine art career.
 

Since then, Riley has shown his work at the Royal Western Watercolor

Exhibition, the Tucson Art Museum, the Driscol Collection of American Western

Art in Beijing and the Denver Historical Society. His many awards include

Silver and Gold Medals, the Stetson Award, the Museum Roundup Award and Best in

Show by the Cowboy Artists of America. His paintings can be found in the

permanent collections of the White House, the Smithsonian Institution, the Air

Force Academy and the West Point Museum. He won the Prix de West, Western art’s

highest honor, in 1995.
 
 
The Red Flute by Kenneth Riley
Issue Price: $750.00
Split Horn Bonnet by Kenneth Riley
Issue Price: $425.00
Crow Fair by Kenneth Riley
Issue Price: $185.00
As One by Kenneth Riley
Issue Price: $395.00
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