SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW - JUNE 2002

Anita Munman
20th Century Fine Art
by Celeste Cummings

Tell us a little about 20th Century Fine Art.

Since it's inception nearly ten years ago, my business has evolved into a very different entity than I expected. In 1992 I started out working from my home producing framed duplicate original paintings in the Arts & Crafts style, selling to Arts & Crafts enthusiasts at the Grove Park Conference. As the interest in my work grew, it became impractical to continue to produce paintings, and in 1999 I began offering canvas lithographs of my most popular paintings, framed in handcrafted Arts & Crafts style frames with interior liners and raised fillets. I market my work directly to consumers through my website and Ebay store, but I also do some wholesaling to a few very special retailers. This summer, I will introduce an exciting new phase of my business: framed lithographs in other period styles including, Deco Moderne, Machine Age, Atomic 50's and Pop.

Framed lithographs are the core of my business, but I also do a lot of commissioned paintings for corporations, resorts, restaurants and collectors. In addition to that, I also do a great deal of Arts & Crafts related design work on a commissioned basis including, interior design and product design.

Where did you learn your craft?

I have only taken a couple of art classes, one in drawing and one in sculpture, so my ability to paint is largely self-taught. In fact, I have never really thought of myself as an artist . . . I'm just a designer who can paint a little bit! I think that my artistic process is not like that of most painters. It is not about the physical act of painting at all. My artistic process is an intellectual process, and every one of my paintings is created in my mind before I ever set brush to canvas. In fact, I design and redesign the painting in my mind until I consider it a finished work of art, and only then do I actually paint it. I keep many of these paintings catalogued in my mind until I find the time to paint them. So for me, the act of painting becomes somewhat mechanical, almost perfunctory. The essence of my art is the IDEA, not the painting itself. People have always asked me "What do you do with the original paintings?" And they are appalled to find out that I always sell them or sometimes give them away, because to me they are far less important than the process of their creation! And that process is always with me . . .it can never be sold or collected.

Who or what was the greatest influence on your work?

Unquestionably, it was the work of Arthur Wesley Dow and his seminal art textbook, "Composition". Dow was among the first to recognize that design concepts applied to the creation of art, and this spoke directly to my artistic philosophy. I was an art historian and a designer long before I became a painter, so he gave me the courage to follow my design instinct as I eased into painting. Dow made sense of my creative process- - which to me at the time seemed like a seat-of-the pants approach - - by putting it all into words and images in "Composition". His sensitivity to Japanese design and his ability to translate the Japanese artistic sensibility into American/Western visual form was an inspiration to me, and offered me the intellectual challenge of trying to do so myself. This led to the creation of many of my most popular paintings.
Another important influence on my work was my education. My graduate work at the University of Chicago was a significant part of my intellectual development and it actually changed the way my mind functioned. Since my creative process is largely intellectual, it relies heavily on my ability to reason in the abstract and to conceptualize visual images in the abstract, both skills and abilities I developed while in grad school.

As a student, I remember struggling through linear algebra and physics, all of the while thinking "How will this ever help me to find a good paying job?!" Little did I realize at the time that it was the act of struggling that encouraged my brain to grow new connections, which in turn made it possible for me to change the way I thought, which in turn made it possible for me to reason and visualize in the abstract!

And I should not underestimate the importance of geography as an influence on my work. When I moved into an Arts & Crafts style four square house in Oak Park, Illinois in 1985 - - which was badly in need of restoration - - I had only a vague familiarity with the Arts & Crafts movement. It was during my restoration of that house that I became interested in the creative process of the Arts & Crafts designers and artists. As I planned the restoration, I kept asking myself "Why did things look the way they did in 1905 and what were these designers and artists thinking?" This led to an MA thesis and postgraduate study on the subject, and then on to the creation of my own Arts & Crafts paintings.

How has your style evolved? Have you had a major shift in media or style? If so, what influenced this shift?

My early paintings focused on Japonisme. I was extremely attracted to the Japanese aesthetic (and still am!) and I really loved the way its graceful asymmetry balanced the symmetry and linearity of the Arts & Crafts interiors and Arts & Crafts furniture in particular. While Japonisme is still the foundation of my style, I have since moved toward a more regional approach to Arts & Crafts. There is really no single "Arts & Crafts style", but rather a multiplicity of regional styles that are very idiosyncratic, so I am now producing artwork that is equally idiosyncratic such as the California woodblock print style and the American Southwest style.
The BIG change in my style has occurred within the past year and I have found it very exciting and satisfying artistically. I have begun to create new paintings in other period styles, including Deco Moderne, Machine Age, Atomic 50's and Pop. It seemed like the logical extension to my Arts & Crafts work and the logical extension of my interest in history. My creative process for each new style period has been the same as with the Arts & Crafts period: it began with an examination of the history and economy of that culture, as well as an understanding of the social, philosophical and psychological underpinnings of that culture and how these values were expressed in the art of the period. It is then, and only then, that I feel I am ready to begin my design process and create a new work of art. I have always thought of art as cultural residue, inseparable from the values that created it, and so I have always approached my creative process from this historical perspective.

What influenced your choice of media?

Since I had no formal education as a painter, I just played around with different types of paint when I started out . . .oil, acrylic and watercolor. I chose gouache as my primary media because it had an extreme color intensity that no other media could duplicate, and it had the same flat finish as the pigments used in Japanese prints during the Arts & Crafts period. I wanted very much to duplicate the look of Japanese prints. And gouache translates extremely well to lithography, which works out perfectly for my present product offering. But, in a larger sense, I am not sure why I decided to paint instead of sculpt or become a potter or even an architect. I think it was because during the process of restoring my Arts & Crafts style home, I ran out of money. I wanted to finish the interior décor better than I could afford to because the house was going to be published in Traditional Home, so instead of buying period paintings or Japanese prints as I might have if the checking account has been a little fatter, I had to become creative and paint my own! This is how my business actually began. It was coincidence more than planning.

What part of your art work do you enjoy the most?

This is an interesting question. There is a moment in my creative process when I know that a design or a painting is finished. After the many hours of thinking and planning, trying different colors (in my mind) and shapes and ideas. . .it all comes together and I am quite overwhelmed with emotion and always cry (out of joy.) That is the moment when I realize it is finished and everything in that painting balances and is right. I believe that this is very like Stendhal's Syndrome, a phenomenon first reported in the 18th century by a young man who was on Grand Tour in Florence. He was so often emotionally overwhelmed by the beauty and perfection of the art and architecture that he saw there that he had to rest and recuperate for a significant period of time before he could go on. I recall feeling this way when I saw The Gamble House for the first time. I had to sit in front of the house on the street curb for about half an hour to recover before I went back again to see it once more. It also happened to me when I saw Hill House for the first time. When I started painting, it happened to me again . . .and it happens every time I create a good work of art. That is the part that I enjoy the most . . .very satisfying.

Have you ever been involved in any "unusual" art projects?

I have been so fortunate to be involved with so many interesting art and design projects! I was commissioned by a well-known Hollywood actor to paint four large paintings for his San Antonio home and I traveled there to meet him and to plan the project. It was a great opportunity for me to paint much larger works of art than I customarily do. One was 8 feet long!
But I think that my favorite "unusual" project is still in the preliminary phase. I have been commissioned to design a series of four Arts & Crafts style guitars. This has been a very interesting project for me because it led me into a new area of product design. I am working with some of the world's foremost instrument designers and musicians, all of whom have helped me to understand guitars and their history. Before beginning the first guitar design, I learned to play the guitar myself so that I would have a better understanding of the instrument's function and also to understand what it felt like emotionally to play. This is something I am certain I never would have done without the inspiration of this project!

Other unusual projects. . .hanging 12 of my paintings in the home of a well known Broadway performer, painting a wall mural in a Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie style home and designing Arts & Crafts style dinnerware.

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