Identifying his work
Is it a Kingman?
We are glad to look at any painting someone thinks may be his. Most of the photographs we are sent turn out to be by other painters named Kingman. This page should help you check first.
His signature
“E Kingman,” lower right.
His family recalled that he always signed “E. Kingman.” On canvas it is small and plain, often with the year. Compare the shape of the E and the K below.
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West of Omaha, 1967. Lower right, in red. -
Torrey Ranch, Wind River Mountains, 1963. Lower right. -
His full signature in pen.
What to look for
The marks of his work.
- The signature
- Most paintings are signed “E Kingman”, often followed by a two-digit year (’67), in small capitals or script in the lower right corner. The E has a short crossbar through its middle stroke, the same in paint as in pen. Some sketches and studies are unsigned.
- The subjects
- Landscapes painted from life: the national parks of the West, Nebraska cornfields and harvests, grain elevators, rail lines and rivers, New Hampshire farms near Jaffrey and Mt. Monadnock, the Southwest, Mexico, Europe in 1927 and Australia in 1972. Also murals, portraits, still lifes and architecture.
- The media
- Oil on canvas or panel, and acrylic in his later years. Tempera and casein for the murals. Lithographs printed from stone in the 1930s and 1940s. Drawings in pencil, ink and lithographic crayon.
- The years
- Dated works run from the mid-1920s, when he was a teenager in Providence, to early 1975.
- His own catalogue
- Kingman kept an index card for nearly every work, numbered by year and sequence (31.01, 67.03). If a label, a gallery tag or a note on the back carries a number in that form, tell us: we can usually match it to his card.
- Labels on the back
- Look for exhibition labels from the Providence Art Club, the Joslyn Art Museum, the Philbrook in Tulsa or Gallery 1516 in Omaha, and for Omaha or Providence framers. They help us trace a work.
Often mistaken for his
Other painters named Kingman.
Auction houses and online sellers regularly list these under his name, sometimes with his dates, 1909–1975. They are not his work.
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Hunting dogs and game birds
Pointers, setters, grouse, pheasants and stags signed “Kingman” in a flowing script turn up at auctions in the UK, Europe, Australia and on eBay, often with his dates attached. They are by another painter. Kingman did not paint sporting pictures.
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Dong Kingman (1911–2000)
The Chinese American watercolorist, best known for city scenes in loose, bright watercolor. Like Eugene he worked for the OSS during the war, and the two were confused even in their lifetimes. His paintings are signed “Dong Kingman”.
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Other first names, or the wrong dates
We have been sent works signed “Paul Kingman” and works dated after 1975. Eugene Kingman died on February 20, 1975, so anything dated later is by someone else.
Still think it may be his?
Send us photos.
We will tell you whether it matches his work and his records. We don't give valuations.
Get in touchPlease include
- A photograph of the whole front, out of the frame if you can.
- A close-up of the signature.
- The back, with any labels, stamps or writing.
- The size of the canvas or sheet, in inches.
- What you know of where it came from.
Or email them to info@eugenekingman.com.