Anita Willets-Burnham had a long and prolific career as an American Impressionist painter, Arts and Crafts Movement etcher and longtime teacher at the Art Institute of Chicago. Classically trained in academic skills at the Institute, she went on to study Impressionist techniques with William Merritt Chase at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and Frank Vincent DuMond at the Art Students League.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, she was raised in Chicago and, as a young woman determined to pursue an artistic career, was greatly influenced by Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. There she was exposed to European Impressionist painting, the Arts and Crafts Movement and Japanese art. Chicago was becoming a haven for artists, with women given opportunities to pursue professional careers for the first time.
Willets-Burnham’s work achieved early acclaim, winning many awards both in Chicago and in other major American cities, and her career was successful enough that she eventually supported her family of six entirely by her art.
An avid promoter of travel as the best means of education, Willets-Burnham led her family in two lengthy “world trips,” as well as extended journeys to all parts of the United States, Mexico and western Canada. All expeditions provided rich material for her work.
Following the First World Trip and Second World Trip, she wrote a book, Round The World On A Penny to chronicle the family’s travel adventures and artistic experiences. She also developed a “Talk” – a humorous view of family travel – which she took on the lecture circuit nationwide, exhibiting her paintings concurrently.
Willets-Burnham’s optimism, vision and energy were legendary, and attracted many supporters and admirers. Longtime friend Frank Lloyd Wright invited her for extended visits to Taliesin, and was a frequent visitor to the painter’s Log House.
