William Kienbusch

(1914 - 1980)

William Kienbusch first painted in Maine in 1934, eventually taking up residence on Great Cranberry Isle in 1962. Born in New York City, and a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Princeton University, he studied at the Art Students League in New York with Raphael Soyer and John Sloan. He lived in Paris in 1937 and 1938, and traveled throughout Europe before the outbreak of war. He taught at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Brooklyn Museum school. His work is included in the collections of many outstanding museums, including that of New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Kienbusch worked extensively in casein, turning to Craypas as his primary medium during the last five years of his life when failing health limited his ability to work on larger pieces. The Ellsworth American quoted the artist in a June 1979 article saying "What you are trying to do [with Craypas] is make something significant within a small area. It can be done. It is very interesting to me that after all these catastrophes, the things I do in Craypas are happy. You can never tell what will come out of things."

Frost Gully Gallery has shown his work since 1970 in collaboration with New York's Kraushaar Galleries, who have represented the artist since presenting his first one-person exhibition in 1949.