Kenneth Warren Marlow

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Kenneth Marlow Obituary

Marlow

Kenneth Warren Marlow

Kenneth Warren Marlow passed away on Sunday, October 22, 2023, in Alexandria, Virginia at the age of 63.

Ken was born in Texas and raised in an Air Force family, moving every few years throughout the United States and abroad. At an early age, his parents recognized his artistic talent, enrolling him at age 12 in an art class at an art supply store in Dayton, Ohio. Within months he was teaching the adults in the class and going to art shows to sell his works. Ken began studying with figurative painter Danni Dawson in Arlington, Virginia while in high school in Alexandria. At age 16, he did one of several apprenticeships with the world-renowned portraitist Nelson Shanks in Pennsylvania and studied drawing with Frank Wright of George Washington University.

Ken received a BA in History of Art from Yale University in December 1982. During his last year at Yale, he had an exhibition of twelve of his paintings and charcoal drawings at the Mississippi Museum of Art. This show brought him critical acclaim and several portrait commissions and from there his career blossomed. Upon graduation, he moved to Jackson, Mississippi to be near his parents where he worked on portrait commissions and still lifes. He later moved to the Washington, DC area where he became an integral part of the Washington art community. In 1985 Ken won the Best of Show prize in a national competition sponsored by American Artist magazine. His oil self-portrait was chosen from among 6,000 contestants and was featured on the front page of the July 1985 issue. The charcoal drawing above is a self-portrait from early in his career.

Among Ken's influences were Raphaelle Peale, Jean-Simeon Chardin, Pietro Annigoni, Jan van Huysum, Giorgio Morandi and sculptor Bruno Lucchesi. He had the honor of being commissioned to paint portraits of such prominent figures as former Episcopal bishop of the United States John Allin, Judge Robert Bork for the Bork family and Judith Terra, wife of the U.S Ambassador-at-large for Cultural Affairs, Daniel Terra. His shows at the Hollis Taggart Gallery in Washington and New York and in various other venues over the span of his career received very favorable reviews and were usually sold out. His works are in many important public and private art collections and a still life painting by Ken is in the permanent collection of the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson.

Ken loved to teach and help others to hone their artistic talent. He taught for several years at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria and tutored many private students who went on to have their own successful careers. He was a truly gifted figurative and still life artist whose paintings are characterized by their exceptional realism and attention to color and detail.

When he was not painting, Ken enjoyed savoring the finest of culinary delights and listening to music. He treasured the company and friendship of others. As his health declined over the past several years due to a stroke, these relationships kept his spirits lifted. He truly had a zest for life that we should all emulate. His genius will live on through the paintings and drawings that he shared with so many of us. May he rest in peace.

Ken is preceded in death by his parents, Col. Louis Gene and Carolyn Flowers Marlow. He is survived by his brother, Dr. Robert Bruce Marlow (Linda) in Huntsville, Alabama; nieces Amanda Berry (Blake) and Olivia Wells (Michael) and great-niece Emma Wells and great-nephew Lane Wells.

No funeral is planned; a celebration of his life may be held in the spring. In lieu of flowers, Ken requested that donations be made to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Washington Post on Nov. 5, 2023.

Memories and Condolences
for Kenneth Marlow

7 Entries

Lilla Ohrstrom

October 29, 2024

I met Ken in his rehabilitation center in Alexandria. I was requested by his friends to see him as an art therapist. When we first met I asked him to draw a picture to introduce himself. He drew a sketch of a toad in a jar. This was the beginning of a profound relationship that I am grateful to have had. Ken could not speak and had very limited movement in his right hand only. Drawing and painting was now frustrating to him because he no longer had the mastery of his body to produce the work of his prime. He did have his brain full of knowledge , ideas and music. He often asked me to play him music. He would request specific artists playing specific songs and I had to get the right version. He also liked smell. He shared scents with me that a friend had brought him. I think Ken liked me because I took time to understand him. I shared more about myself than I usually would in a therapy situation. As artists and cultured people we connected. He liked to see pictures of my travels, he asked questions about me and followed up in subsequent visits. He remembered everything. Our communication through his scratched writing, his song choices, his pointing at objects in his room, and occasional grunts allowed me to know so much about Ken.
He loved his friends and he wanted me to meet them. I was surprised how many of Ken´s friends I actually knew and met through him Eventhough he was helpless to introduce me. He loved to make connections.
His feeling of living in captivity, a glass jar, did not deter his hope for healing or his zest for living. I really learned something about the spark of life that is so precious. I asked him if he had any suicidal ideation. He did not. Ken hung on because he wanted to be alive.
May he now be at peace and live on through his beautiful works of art and friends and family.
Thank you for your love and support of Ken.
Lilla Ohrstrom ATR-BC

Kevin Thornton

November 27, 2023

He was a terrific, hugely generous and ever-so-interesting friend. He taught me how to look at art. I had a blast whenever I hung out with him - at Yale and in Jackson and D.C. He was a font of hilarious (and usually salacious) gossip. He was full of wit, and fun, and life. He charmed my mother, who thought he was wonderful. He had a huge heart that turned out in the end to be the heart of a lion. I wish I had spent more time with him. I loved him. He took some of my youth with him.

Glenn Sanford

November 15, 2023

Your work is inspiring...

Ann Pankow Davis

November 12, 2023

Ken was one of my closest friends during the prime of my life. We shared countless fine meals, deep laughs, exquisite music, a love of beauty, and lots of utter joy. I was beyond blessed to have spent hours with him just weeks before his passing. The effort he required to scribble his thoughts in a notebook belied his keen mind and masterful memory of times we shared long past. It was moving beyond description, and -- along with the astonishing self portrait he sold to me at the dawn of our friendship -- I shall treasure that notebook as a prized possession to forever keep him in my heart. There was absolutely no one like Ken Marlow, and I am eternally grateful that he came into my life, and deeply appreciative to those dedicated souls who gave him comfort, care and company in his remaining years. Rest In Peace, dear man.

Carin Greenberg

November 9, 2023

Ken was a dear friend of mine, in college and afterwards. I spent many happy hours watching him paint, going dancing, and laughing a lot. His breathtaking talent as a painter has been an inspiration to me throughout my life, and I am heartbroken that he's gone.

suzanne hillk

November 7, 2023

I studied briefly with Ken when he substitued for Danni Dawson's classes at The Art League. He was a great, enthusiastic teacher, a lover of color. The work I saw on more than once occasion at Hollis Taggart in Georgetown showed mastery of composition, superb paint application and I only wished I could have afforded one of his sublime still life's.

Lilla Ohrstrom ATR-BC

November 6, 2023

A heart felt salute to Ken, who I only met after his stroke. In spite of Ken´s inability to speak we had heart felt and interesting communications through his scratchy writing, music and pictures. Getting to know Ken and observing his will to live under the most excruciating circumstances both amazed and inspired me. He was talented and he deeply loved his friends. He continued to grow internally while his body shrank. A true survivor.

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