Finding a Portrait of E. McKnight Kauffer

What does it mean to make a surprise art discovery? You identify the unknown subject of a painting by an obscure but gifted artist, and the sitter is semi-famous. Now what?

In August of 2023, while on vacation in Santa Fe, I visited the New Mexico Museum of Art and realized that a portrait of an unknown man is the designer E. McKnight Kauffer. The painting is by Donald Beauregard and has been included in an exhibition of his work, An American in Paris: Donald Beauregard, which closes in late October, 2023. Over the next two months I researched Kauffer’s life from New York and my friend Susan Bednarczyk researched Beauregard in Santa Fe. Though we never found direct proof that Beauregard painted Kauffer, the sum of clues, especially the accuracy of the likeness in the portrait, supports our hypothesis. It is Kauffer.

The painting was the result of a brief meeting between Kauffer and Beauregard in Munich in 1913, a year before Beauregard died young. My discovery was the result of a series of lucky coincidences that placed me, a fan of Kauffer’s work and discoverer of his unmarked grave, in front of the painting during one of its rare public viewings. The portrait and my discovery are rich in stories, almost overwhelmingly so. I imagined commissioning a film documentary or starring in an episode of the British art sleuthing series Fake or Fortune!

In the end I am simply telling the world about the portrait. But if you are documentary filmmaker looking for a subject, give me a call!

Doug

The painting is 1913.

The photo is 1915. Kauffer appears to be wearing the same clothes in both.