Mort Künstler, “Mr. Lincoln Comes to Gettysburg” (detail), 2013. Oil on canvas. Private collection. ©Mort Künstler Inc. All rights reserved.

Stockbridge, MA, January 13, 2015—In conjunction with its current exhibition, “Mort Künstler: The Art of Adventure,” Norman Rockwell Museum will present “Nine Months at Gettysburg,” an evening lecture to be held on Saturday, January 17, starting at 5:30 p.m. Vermont historian Howard Coffin will focus on 1863, the year of the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Battle of Gettysburg, and explain how Vermont’s Second Brigade changed the tide of the American Civil War. Learn about President Lincoln’s admiration for these untested Union soldiers, their contributions at Pickett’s Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg, and how their efforts fit into the context of the Civil War. The talk is free with Museum admission; program only $10; or free for Museum members.

Howard Coffin is a seventh generation Vermonter with six ancestors who served in Vermont Civil War regiments. He has given more than 300 talks on the Civil War in Vermont alone, and leads tours of Civil War battlefields. A member of the Vermont Sesquicentennial Commission, he was appointed by the U.S. Senate to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission and served on the boards of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites and the Civil War Trust. Long involved in historic preservation, he delivered the keynote address dedicating the Vermont Monument on the Wilderness Battlefield. Coffin and Vermont U. S. Senator James Jeffords led efforts to add 500 acres where the Vermont Brigade fought to the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. His books include “Full Duty: Vermonters in the Civil War;” “Nine Months to Gettysburg;” “The Battered Stars;” and “Guns Over the Champlain Valley” and “Something Abides: Discovering the Civil War in Today’s Vermont.” Coffin and his wife Susan live in Montpelier, Vermont.

Mort Künstler: The Art of Adventure
On view through March 8, 2015

Known today for his meticulously researched historical paintings of such subjects as the Civil War, Mort Künstler is also a prolific illustrator, who has worked on a broad spectrum of assignments in different genres for over 60 years. “Mort Künstler: The Art of Adventure” presents the first thorough retrospective of the artist’s career—from paperback book jackets and men’s adventure magazine illustrations, to movie posters, model kit boxes, and advertisements for prominent corporations. Künstler’s dramatic images, conceived in every possible genre, will be the focus of the exhibition, along with his historical paintings that capture the heroes and battles of the American Civil War. The exhibition will document the artist’s transition from traditional illustrator to historical narrative painter, whose limited edition signed prints have attracted a large and appreciative audience. Künstler’s artistic influences, which include Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, N.C. Wyeth, and Norman Rockwell, will be explored and represented in the exhibition, as well as childhood drawings that chart the development of his considerable artistic skills.