The Los Angeles Times has called Jean Pilk one of
the top four portrait painters in the U.S.

About The Portrait Artist

Today Jean Pilk is recognized as one of the top portraitists in America. As a child, she only knew she loved to draw, especially faces and figures. Her first portraits were of her grandparents and great-grandparents in her hometown of Kansas City. Later she went on to study art at Marymount College and the renowned Art Students League in New York City. At the League, Jean perfected her skills under the tutelage of noted portrait artist, Herb Abrams.

Once Jean began painting professionally, her love of faces led her to specialize in portraits. During her long career, Jean has painted portraits of hundreds of individuals, many of whom are very well-known, including Gen. Colin Powell, President Harry S. Truman, J. Edgar Hoover, Gen. James Doolittle, Will Rogers, Gene Autry, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and Sandra Day O’Connor.

While living and working in the Washington, D.C. area, Jean was commissioned to paint all the chairs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces for a series that now resides in the Pentagon. She also painted 40 portraits of Scottish Rite Masons that are displayed at the National Masonic Temple Architects Hall of Honor in Washington. In fact, Jean developed a reputation as one of Washington’s top-flight official portrait painters, and her work is on view all over Capitol Hill.

A few years ago, Jean relocated to Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and now concentrates on painting people from every walk of life.