His love of sports superseded his
artistic interests, and he eventually attended UCLA on an athletic
scholarship. His natural artistic talent had been encouraged by his
father from an early age and after one year, he returned to New York
to study art at Pratt Institute.
As a result of a commission from National Geographic Magazine, he learned the value of authoritative research in paintings of historical subjects where accuracy was imbued into his work concept. While living in Cuernavaca, Mexico, during the 1960's the traditions became a significant factor influencing his paintings depicting the historical West.
Kunstler's paintings range from Civil War topics, images of the Old West, famous Americans to Native Americans of the west.