Keane Perceptions

Van Gogh had his sunflowers, Warhol his soup cans. Painters Walter Keane and Margaret Keane had big-eyed children.

Over the years, some critics have scoffed at the Keanes and their imitators, but today their sad-eyed waifs are a commodity on the flea-market scene, and hip L.A. coffeehouses like the Jabberjaw display Keanes on their walls.

The Keanes acrimoniously divorced years ago, and some public argument over which of them originated their trademark art ensued. According to 1970 newspaper reports, in order to prove who was the artist, Margaret Keane McGuire challenged her ex-husband to a waif-painting duel in San Francisco’s Union Square (he declined). In 1986, she won a slander suit after he told USA Today that she believed him dead and was claiming to be the originator of his paintings.

Walter Keane has been erroneously reported dead in newspaper stories. It was a small surprise, then, when a very much alive Keane turned up in Brentwood last weekend at Longs Drugs, where he autographed copies of his new autobiography, “The World of Keane.”

“I haven’t been painting lately,” said Keane, 77. “You need full concentration and no distractions to write. I’ve been preparing this book for the last three years.”

“The World of Keane” contains color plates of famous paintings of goggle-eyed toddlers (most with simple titles like “Hunger,” “Alone” and “Survival”), as well as photos of the artist painting such Hollywood stars as Kim Novak and Natalie Wood. Accompanying the paintings and drawings are Keane’s reminiscences.

The book signing had a purpose besides advertising the book: to put an end to the rumors that the artist was dead. “Hardly,” he said. “I’m living in a peasant shack on the beach at La Jolla.”

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Ultimo Gifties: There’s a tad less than two weeks before Christmas, and Social Climes has not abandoned its commitment to bringing you perfect holiday gift ideas.

For those who consider themselves so politically correct they recycle their fruitcakes into doorstops, here are some ideas.

Starbucks has gift baskets of four half-pounds of coffee ($18.95; $16.95 for decaf). Two dollars from the sale of each basket goes to the international relief organization CARE. You can also check out the Greenpeace store in the Beverly Connection and the Heal the Bay store in Santa Monica Place for various PC items.

If, however, you loathe the whole notion of political correctness, we have some other ideas: A gift certificate from Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Beverly Hills for those who appreciate a nice, fat-marbled slab o’ beef; Camel cigarette logo merchandise, or a copy of the new Guns N’ Roses CD “The Spaghetti Incident?” with that lovely tune by Charles Manson.