M. Charles Rhinehart was born of French and German parents on October 10, 1930 in Cantwell, Missouri. Milton Rhinehart, Charles’ father, was a welder and his mother, Lena, a housewife. The family of four, including one brother, moved to St. Louis, Missouri for about ten years. After this time they returned to the area from which they came, and settled in a town with historical acclaim, Ste. Genevieve, Missouri.

By age fourteen, Charles was lettering trucks and painting small signs, which he continued and expanded into a sign painting business. During this same period, he became more interested in the fine arts field. As a child, Charles had been exposed to art through other family members who were painters and musicians, and all were of great encouragement to him.

Charles began fine art painting at about age nineteen. A significant turning point was reached when he became friends with a Ste. Genevieve artist, Matthew Ziegler. “Matt” helped Charles with basic knowledge of materials and the methods used for outdoor painting. Charles accompanied Mr. Ziegler on outdoor painting trips and visits to the St. Louis Art Museum to view paintings by the masters and showings of the present day artists. Rhinehart began entering art fairs and shows of other kinds, including juried museum shows. Starting in 1951 Rhinehart’s work was accepted for exhibition at the St. Louis Art Museum’s annual show. He made the show nine years in a row and within ten years his work was being exhibited along side Thomas Hart Benton. He was soon well into art as a career. Charles had one-man showings in the St. Louis area and sold his work from his studio in Ste. Genevieve for about twenty years. He also lectured and demonstrated at universities and clubs and gave classes. Ten years into his career he had become one of Missouri’s top artists and was included in shows with Benton and Siegfried Reinhardt.

Rhinehart is, for the most part, self-taught. He has studied and taught himself through the works of the early American landscape painters such as, Thomas Moran (his favorite painter), and others of the Hudson River School. Charles continues to keep his studio in Missouri because his inspiration comes from the surrounding landscapes. The scenery of Arkansas and Missouri is reminiscent of the romantic European landscapes captured by the masters he studied in his youth. He occasionally takes painting trips to gather visual material, anything that will lend itself to his oil glazing painting technique.

In 1975, Charles began showing his work in new areas, including Scottsdale, Arizona, Beverly Hills and Corte Madera, California, Aspen, Beaver Creek, Denver and Vail, Colorado, Taos, New Mexico, and Jackson, Wyoming.

Today M. Charles Rhinehart’s work is in prestigious collections; Pillsbury, the Talon Corporation (Detroit, Michigan), Legett & Platt (Missouri), and corporate collections in Canada and Singapore to name a few.