The award-winning painter Gregory Manchess’ work has appeared on covers and feature stories for National Geographic Magazine, Time, Atlantic Monthly, and The Smithsonian. His figure and portrait work has led to numerous commissions for stamps by the US Postal Service, including stamps celebrating Oregon Statehood, Mark Twain, and The 1963 March On Washington. Manchess’s commissioned work has been displayed prominently in many blockbuster exhibits. The National Geographic Society commissioned Manchess to create art for their traveling exhibit Real Pirates: The Untold Story of The Whydah, from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship. His large-scale portrait of Abraham Lincoln, along with seven major paintings of key moments from Lincoln’s life, are highlighted in the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Manchess’s illustrations appear frequently in books, including his self-written and illustrated “widescreen novel” Above the Timberline, released in 2017 to stellar reviews. Thirty of the over one hundred twenty paintings from the book were featured in an exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts. He recently finished twenty-one paintings for a special limited edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for Lyra’s Books in the UK. His film and television work includes six paintings showcased in the movie The Ballard of Buster Scruggs by The Coen Brothers. Widely awarded within the industry, he regularly exhibits at the Society of Illustrators in New York. In 1999, his peers at the Society presented him with their highest honor, the coveted Hamilton King Award, and later, the Stevan Dohanos Award. Manchess is included in Walt Reed’s edition of The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000. Today, Manchess lectures at universities and colleges nationwide and gives workshops in painting at the Norman Rockwell Museum and The Atelier in Minneapolis. He teaches at the Illustration Master Class and online with SmArt School.
Image credit:
Gregory Manchess
Dorothy, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Lyra’s Classics | Lyra’s Books, Shropshire, UK. 2024.
Oil on canvas