Michael Keane

Michael Keane’s superb paintings are not only known for their elegance in design and unsurpassed rich colors, but also for their technical accuracy. Some of the scenes are imbued with a luminous serenity that seems to transcend time and space; others portray the excitement, majesty and grandeur of yachting history, and put us in touch with the eternal relationship of humanity to the sea. Because of the timeless beauty of his work, his paintings are some of the most sought-after marine art in the world today. Many collectors remember his annual sold-out one-man shows in Nantucket, throughout the 1990’s- 2014.

Keane’s dedication to an artist’s life began very early, starting an eight-year ‘apprenticeship’ with a noted local landscape artist, Edward Harrigan, at the ripe old age of 8! And at 16, he served a four-year apprenticeship with the marine artist Marshall W. Joyce. He majored in Visual Design at the University of Massachusetts, and then taught portraiture and figure painting with Clemente Micarelli in his studio, and afterward he continued to teach painting at The Copley Society in Boston, and other schools for 17 years.

Truly a Renaissance man, with many talents and interests, Keane was a skilled sailor, who designed and built his own catboat “Trick or Treat.” Michael had unique qualifications to become a marine artist. His depth and technical knowledge was garnered from serving seven years as a Marine Quality Assurance Inspector, for General Dynamics, while working alongside the U.S. Coast Guard and the American Bureau of Shipping. While at General Dynamics, he spent time as a Technical Illustrator becoming quite proficient at reading and lofting ship’s plans, skills he used to construct ship models from scratch, and provide great authority to his paintings. As he observed from his experience working at General Dynamics, “I can read a ship’s plans like a Sunday newspaper- very few marine artists can do that.”

In his last decade, Michael Keane dedicated himself solely to painting and perfecting a synthesis of all his incredible facets of learning and experience. He approached his art on one level in a workmanlike manner, and on another level with the highest artistic ideals in mind. His technical and engineering skills, coupled with his extensive fine arts background, made him uniquely qualified as a fine artist in the American tradition.

Michael Keane and his work has been featured in Yachting, Motorboating & Sailing, U.S. Art, Sea Classics, Cape Cod Life and various other publications. His paintings have won numerous awards, and honors, including the R.J. Schaefer Award of Excellence at the Mystic Seaport International Exhibition. His original works and limited-edition prints are proudly displayed in private collections, corporate collections and galleries globally.