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Anita Munman
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Nationally
renowned artist Anita Munman did not originally plan an
artistic career, rather her academic training led her in
that unexpected direction. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa,
Suma cum laude from the University of Illinois at Chicago
with a B.A. in the history of architecture and art, she
decided to pursue a career as a university educator. While
working toward her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in
preparation for that career, she became interested in how
the artists of the American Arts & Crafts movement (ca.
1900 -1925) translated their social theory and philosophy
into visual form. As an intellectual exercise, she began
doing so herself. This activity led to the creation of the
many images now available in her collection of American
Arts & Crafts paintings and lithographs.
Historic
authenticity has always been the artistic goal of Anita’s
paintings. She says of her Arts & Crafts Collection
and of her work:
The
American Arts & Crafts movement placed a significant
emphasis on the home, and particularly on the quality
and the individuality of the decorative elements placed
in it. Equally important was the fundamental philosophical
principle that equated living well with living simply
and honestly. For this reason, the artists and craftsmen
of the period sought to express these values in their
designs while achieving the highest quality in their craftsmanship.
. .ideals that were at odds with the developing mass production
of the machine-driven Industrial Revolution. It is these
artists’ commitment to quality and hand craftsmanship
that has inspired me to create the works of art that I
offer.
Each
of my Arts & Crafts Collection images is based on
extensive historic research of the styles of noted artists
of the period, such as graphic designer Dard Hunter, potter
Hannah Borger Overbeck, the California Plein Air painters
and woodblock artists Bertha Lum, Frances Gearhart and
Gustave Baumann. My artistic goal is to create images
that incorporate the styles of these noted artists, while
recalling the pictorial flatness and color intensity of
the Japanese prints that were so popular and influential
during the period. And my ultimate goal in creating this
collection of period-inspired paintings and lithographs
for the Arts & Crafts interior is to achieve the same
high quality of craftsmanship that characterized the Craftsman
ideal and to do so at an affordable price.
To Exhibitions 
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