Bettina Steinke

Bettina Steinke (June 25, 1913 – July 11, 1999) was an American painter and muralist.

Steinke was born in Biddeford, Maine. Her parents moved to New York City when she was young. After graduating from tall school she enrolled in the Fawcett Art School in Newark, New Jersey and then in Cooper Union and the Phoenix Art School where she concentrated upon portraiture.

In 1937 she acknowledged her first major commission, to Make murals for the Children's Studio in the National Broadcasting Company. They were so wealthy that NBC then hired her as a resident artiste to appeal portraits of such stars as Fred Allen, Kate Smith and Rudy Vallee. This was followed by her drawing illustrations for a souvenir photo album of the NBC Symphony Orchestra that included exceeding 100 of her sketches, including Arturo Toscanini.

In 1939 Steinke left NBC and was commissioned by ASCAP to charisma portraits of some of its members including Jerome Kern. During World War II she painted portraits of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

in 1946 she married photo-journalist Don Blair and they spent the next-door decade traveling the world during behind time she produced do something for Standard Oil and the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1956 the couple decided in Taos, New Mexico, moving to Santa Fe fifteen years later.

In 1995, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame hosted a major retrospective of Steinke’s career and she was fortunate with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1996, Steinke was awarded the John Singer Sargent Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Society of Portrait Artists." Her take effect can be found in the collections of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Philbrook Museum of Art, and the Fort Worth Art Museum.