Artist Remo Bramanti's Portrait of Bobby Darin on "If I Were A Carpenter" Album Cover Spotlighted in Darin Biopic "Beyond the Sea"

New York based Italian artist Remo Bramanti (1923-1998) enjoyed a successful artistic collaboration in the mid 20th century with numerous well known American pop culture icons in music, entertainment and literature. Bramantis considerable talent in capturing the essence of his subjects in portraits led to his memorable portrait of Bobby Darin, signed by Bramanti, that graces the front of the 1966 If I Were a Carpenter album and for all Darin fans, is an enduring image of the singer.

January 8, 2005 New York based Italian artist Remo Bramanti (1923-1998) enjoyed a successful artistic collaboration in the mid 20th century with numerous well known American pop culture icons in music, entertainment and literature. Bramantis considerable talent in capturing the essence of his subjects in portraits led to his memorable portrait of Bobby Darin, signed by Bramanti, that graces the front of the 1966 If I Were a Carpenter album and for all Darin fans, is an enduring image of the singer. In a unique twist, a Bramanti portrait of the back of Darins head is also on the back cover of the album.

As widely reported in the media, the production designers for the 2004 Darin biopic Beyond the Sea starring Kevin Spacey did Bramantis portrait of Darin from the If I Were a Carpenter album into the likeness of Spacey as Darin, shedding a new spotlight on Bramantis talents and legacy. Bramanti also was the cover artist on Darin sheet music and for the book of the 1960s epic musical, Hair. He also did illustrations and portraits for both commercial and private use of entertainers such as Jacques Brel, Woody Allen and James Brown.

After Bramantis death in 1998, a diverse body of artwork acquired from Bramantis estate by real estate investors and art collectors, Anne Keshen and Terrence Tallen, was the recent subject of a museum retrospective in Spring 2004 at the Italian Art Museum, the Italo MuseoAmericano, in San Francisco. The exhibition showcased Bramantis works as an abstract painter, his landscape paintings from New Mexico and Colorado and many of his works as a portrait artist. Bramantis works on paper of the human form and his extensive contributions to entertainment and philanthropy in the mid to late 20th century were also showcased. Bramanti is the only artist to have been invited to design the United States National Christmas Seal for three consecutive years and also was an artist for the American Lung Association in creating the art for the Breath for Life campaign.

We are honored to preserve and support the talent and artistic legacy of Remo Bramanti that has been highlighted through the recent Museum exhibition, the catalogue that will be published in 2005 and the release of the film Beyond the Sea, comments Anne Keshen, the owner of the works from Bramantis estate. Our initial interest in Bramantis works were his exceptional abstract paintings, done mainly in the 1940s 1960s, yet we are delighted by the depth and quality of the figurative works from primarily his travels abroad in the mid 20th century as well as to places like Santa Fe and Taos, NM. His artistic contributions in entertainment, illustration, album and book cover designs are also an important and enduring aspect of his creative legacy, further comments Ms. Keshen.

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