About the artist:

Born in Boston and educated at institutions such as Vassar, Columbia and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Powers devoted any free time she had growing up to studying, painting and sculpture. An early influence on her work was politics, reinforced by her experience traveling in pre-WWII Europe. In 1937, at 15 years old, Powers got a firsthand glimpse of Nazi Germany and its propaganda campaign against contemporary art, branding the work of modernists and expressionists as “Degenerate.” Powers herself would explore expressionist work in her painting, and back home in Boston, aligned herself with the Boston Expressionists. Later, changes in her personal life also meant changes in her art. Once married, Powers turned to her everyday life to mine it for subject matter – capturing vacation spots, social gatherings, and her family. However, her eye for political satire didn’t remain dormant for long, and she continues to explore political themes in her work to this day. Anne Lyman Powers personal statement: I was first interested in painting around the age of sixteen. So I studied both painting and sculpture during whatever times I had free – during school, college and summers. I have always preferred realist painting with recognizable subject matter – but a subject matter that has two aspects. The first is that the subjects should be explicit – portraits, human or animal forms, landscapes, still life and so on. I have never limited myself in any way here. I say to myself that I’ll paint anything, any time, anywhere. So most of it reflects my home and family, friends, occupations and travels. I feel free to absorb influences from any direction: a bit of surrealism, a bit of pop, a bit of abstract expressionism. The second aspect addresses the object which is the painting – or whatever the work is – its composition, color relationships and texture. The considerations here should obey rules for abstraction. The marriage between these two principal aspects should be accomplished in a way which makes possible and enhances a feeling, an experience or a statement about the world in which we live or about the human condition. In short: a realist abstraction or abstract realism. That’s where the interest lies for me—in the tension to be resolved. I am lucky to be able to paint at home. In addition to my painting studio, I have a press for etching. The lithographs are printed at Fox Graphics which is located now in Merrimac. EDUCATION: The Winsor School; painting: David Park. Independently, sculpture: Mary Moore, painting: Ernest Thurn Vassar College; sculpture: Elizbeth de Casimo Geiger. Columbia University; sculpture: Hugo Robus. Boston Museum School; painting: Karl Zerbe. Drawing and graphics: Ture Bengzt. TEACHING EXPERIENCE: Boston Museum School - painting instructor. Wellesley College - painting instructor (1949-1950) Private instruction. SELECTED COLLECTIONS: Boston Public Library The Andover Companies Harvard Trust Company Firestone Library, Princeton University Springfield Basketball Hall of Fame The Boston Globe MEMBERSHIPS: Artists Equity, Boston Visual Artists Union, Boston Printmakers