Bettina Steinke (June 25, 1913 – July 11, 1999) was an American painter and muralist.
Steinke was born Biddeford, Maine.[1] Her father was cartoonist and entertainer Jolly Bill Steinke.[2] After graduating from Bridgeport High School, she studied at Cooper Union and the Phoenix Art School where she concentrated on portraiture.[3]
In 1937 she received her first major commission, to create murals for the Children's Studio in the National Broadcasting Company.[3] They were so successful that NBC then hired her as a resident artist to draw portraits of such stars as Fred Allen, Kate Smith and Rudy Vallee. This was followed by her drawing illustrations for a souvenir book of the NBC Symphony Orchestra that included over 100 of her sketches, including Arturo Toscanini.[citation needed]
in 1946 she married photo-journalist Don Blair and they spent the next decade traveling the world during which time she produced work for Standard Oil and the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1956 the couple settled in Taos, New Mexico, moving to Santa Fe fifteen years later.[4]
↑Heller, Jules and Nancy G, Heller, ed., "North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary" Garland Reference Library of the Humanities (Vol. 1219), Garland Publishing Company, New York & London, 1995
↑Kovinick, Phil; Yoshiki-Kovinick, Marian (1998). An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West. Austin: University of Texas press. pp.290–291. ISBN0292790635.
