Kenneth Riley (painter)

Kenneth Pauling Riley (1919–2015), often called Ken Riley, was an American realist history painter of the Old West, a prolific illustrator, and a war artist in the Pacific during World War II.

Life
He was born in Waverly, Missouri in 1919, but grew up in Kansas where his ability was first recognized at the Kansas City Art Institute. After studying there, and under Frank DuMond and Harvey Dunn, Riley began work as an illustrator of pulp fiction in 1941, but with the entry of the United States into World War II later that year he enlisted and was sent out to the Pacific as a war artist. After the war his success increased, and one of his paintings, "The Whites of Their Eyes", depicting the Battle of Bunker Hill, was acquired by President John F. Kennedy for the White House collection. He died in 2015.

Accolades
Awards Honors
 * Prix de West at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, 1995;
 * Eiteljog Museum Award for excellence in American Art.
 * Charter member of the National Academy of Western Artists;
 * Member of the Cowboy Artists of America, 1982.