Anita Willets-Burnham
Anita Willets-Burnham | |
---|---|
Born | Anita Willets August 22, 1880 Brooklyn, New York |
Died | July 7, 1958 Wilmette, Illinois | (aged 77)
Nationality | American |
Education | School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Art Students League of New York, National Academy of Design |
Anita Willets-Burnham was an American
Biography
Anita Willets was born the sixth of eight children to Joseph Hewlett and Marie Louie Willets on August 22, 1880. Born in
In the following decades, Willets-Burnham honed her craft. She was a member of many local arts organizations, including the Arts Club of Chicago. Her work was frequently exhibited at Art Institute shows, shown in 19 of the years between 1902 and 1927. In 1914, she discovered a c. 1820 log cabin in Winnetka, Illinois. She purchased it three years later and used it as her family's home and studio. In 1915, she exhibited her works at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, where she was awarded three prizes for her water colors. In 1921, Willets-Burnham embarked on a "world tour", visiting France, Spain, Belgium, England, and North Africa. While in Paris, she studied with Cecilia Beaux. In 1928, she left for a second such tour, visiting Japan, Siam, Korea, China, India, Egypt, Palestine, Spain, England, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Belgium, Morocco, Switzerland, and the East Indies. Upon her return, she taught at the Art Institute and continued to expand her professional affiliations.[1]
She may have been the inventor of the first wheeled suitcase. “Why be a human truck horse?” Willets-Burnham asked before the Burnham’s 1928 trip, sparking her “grand idea.” “Wheels! Suitcase on Wheels!” she wrote in her book ‘Round the World on a Penny, her illustrated travelogue originally published in 1933. Her suitcase was fashioned by her son Bud with two wheels from an old baby carriage on one end and a telescoping wooden handle on the other.[2]
In 1931, Willets-Burnham was presented in a one-man show at the Art Institute, though it included some works from her eldest daughter Carol-Lou. The show, "Water Colors by Anita willets-Bunham and Carol-Lou Burnham", ran from July 23 to October 11. In 1933, she was a staff member (and exhibitor) at the Century of Progress fair in Chicago. Willets-Burnham was also the benefactor of Works Progress Administration funds that were being distributed at the time for muralists, although only one work (for the George B. Armstrong School in Chicago) is ascertained. Willets-Burnham also had solo exhibitions at the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego in California (1935) and the Vancouver Art Gallery (1940).
With the
Anita Willets-Burnham's water color "Our White House, Washington, D.C." is part of the White House Pride of the American Nation, the White House collection of fine arts. Several of her works are found at the John H. Vanderpoel Art Museum in Chicago and the Winnetka Historical Society.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
- ^ "Before Her Time: Anita Willets-Burnham's Rolling Suitcase | Winnetka Historical Society". November 24, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2021.
- ^ "Human Auction: Chicagoans sell selves for bonds". LIFE. February 7, 1944.