Online Exhibition
Ray Charles
In this portrait of Ray Charles (b. 1930), Anita Kunz creates
more than just an appealing likeness. By depicting Charles with
his characteristic wide smile and giving him rows of prominent
teeth in the shape of piano keys, she conveys the very essence
of the great blues and jazz pianist, singer, and composer. A
pale gold-green glow on the right contrasts with Charles' brown
skin and highlights his upraised face and hands.
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Ray Charles, ca.1982
Watercolor, gouache, and ink over graphite
on illustration board
Published in the Dallas Times Herald, ca. 1982 (1)
LC-USZC4-11583; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03326
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Serial Killers, January
1985
Watercolor and graphite on illustration board
Published in February 1985 (2)
LC-USZC4-11582; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03329
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Serial Killers
In Serial Killers Anita Kunz depicts a sinister looking
man who arches his bull-like neck like a predator. In place of
eyes, his face has empty narrow slits in a blindfold, and, instead
of teeth, his open mouth reveals grotesque lines of tiny skulls.This
chilling image is among the artist's earlier works.
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Alcoholism
In this editorial illustration, Kunz takes a metaphorical approach
to the subject of alcoholism. By depicting a young man vainly
trying to keep his head above water, she likens the alcoholic's
state to that of drowning, losing control of life and hope.
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Alcoholism, 1986
Watercolor, ink, and graphite on illustration board
Published in Sunshine magazine, October 1986 (3)
LC-USZC4-11586; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03327
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Tempest, ca. 1987
Watercolor, gouache, and collage, over graphite
on illustration board
Published in Stern, ca. 1987 (4)
LC-USZC4-11588; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03312
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Tempest
This picture shows former President Bush at a time when his
administration was beset by economic problems. Kunz takes a humorous
approach to the President's political predicament, placing him
in a flimsy boat constructed of folded paper money and set adrift
in high seas under a stormy sky.The painted detail in the collage
of folded currency is particularly accomplished.
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Fear of Finance
Topics from the world of finance and business present Kunz with
some of her most challenging editorial assignments. In this work
she depicts a cramped and fearful Everyman figure placed inside
a constricting picture frame covered with minuscule copies of
U.S. currency, legal documents with stamps and seals, a gold
MasterCard, images of a house, and bottle of chardonnay. Symbolizing
financial obligations and material desires, these encircling
objects physically overwhelm the anxiety-ridden figure. Kunz
produced this strong, conceptual work for an article on investors'
ambivalence about investing for the future.
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Fear of Finance, 1991
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board, collage over wooden frame
Published as cover of the
Washington Post Magazine, April 13, 1991 (5)
LC-USZC4-11584; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03325
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Whoopi, 1992
Watercolor, gouache, and ink over graphite on paper
Published as cover of the Boston Globe Magazine,
September 13,1992 (6)
LC-USZC4-11598; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03321
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Whoopi
In her lively portraits and humorous caricatures of political
leaders and performing artists, Kunz aims not to devastate but "to
poke gentle fun" at her subjects, illuminating their essential
traits by playfully distorting or accentuating dominant features.
In this picture, as befits Whoopi Goldberg's larger-than- life
personality, Kunz depicts the performer's face as a large sculptural
form that fills the drawing sheet. With great care and ingenuity,
Kunz inscribes Goldberg's corn rows with words that describe
her life and work.The inscriptions not only visually represent
her hair's texture and style, but textually reinforce key aspects
of Goldberg's character and career.
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Child Abuse
The theme of childhood in its various stages and guises has
long interested Anita Kunz. This striking image, published on
the cover of MS magazine, illustrated a harrowing article
on ritual child abuse perpetrated by a satanic cult. In response
to the story, Kunz conjured a surreal, nightmarish vision, depicting
a naked baby trapped and threatened by coiled, snakelike forms
with multiple red devil heads with forked tongues. By using a
vivid red and green color scheme, and making the frightened,
naturalistic child the focal point of the composition, Kunz dramatizes
the horrific danger to children posed by such cults.
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Child Abuse, 1992
Watercolor, gouache, and ink over graphite on paper
Published as cover of MS, January/February, 1993 (7)
LC-USZC4-11589; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03330
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St. Hillary, 1993
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board
Published in the New York Times Magazine,
May 23, 1993 (8)
LC-USZC4-11593; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03313
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St. Hillary
In her ironic depiction of Hillary Clinton as St. Joan of Arc,
Kunz employs the iconography of Old Master religious portraiture.
Replete with halo, upward gazing face, and heroically clad in
armor and sword, Kunz's figure of Clinton evokes the patience
and passion of the martyred saint.The symbolic portrait was created
to accompany a 1993 feature story about the First Lady, which
discussed her views on virtue, politics, and the role of government
in peoples' lives.
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Hands
Kunz created this poetically expressive painting as a conceptual
response to an article about the global AIDS epidemic and possible
treatments and cures for the disease. The viewer can easily infer
multiple meanings in this highly metaphorical image. Of varied
sizes and color, the cluster of different hands underscores the
point that AIDS afflicts people of all races and ages, eroding
their self reliance--as symbolized by each beseeching, outstretched
hand.The miraculous rays of light toward which the hands expressively
reach, however, signal hope for future treatments and cures.
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Hands, 1996
Watercolor, gouache, and collage over graphite
on illustration board
Published in Time, December 30, 1996-
January 6, 1997 (9)
LC-USZC4-11591; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03309
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Global Bully? 1997
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board
Published as cover of Time (Canada), August 1, 1997 (10)
LC-USZC4-11596; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03314
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Global Bully?
Published as the cover image for an issue of the Canadian edition
of Time, this painting reveals Kunz's distinctive Canadian
vantage point on international political affairs.The provocative
image and the lead article it illustrates demonstrates how, during
President Bill Clinton's second term of office, much of the world
perceived America's power. Kunz depicts the U.S. as a hybrid
creature with an eagle's head atop an outsized muscular body
flexing its arms.The figure's aggressive posture, however, is
humorously deflated by the tiny bright red, white, and blue briefs.
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Cheerleaders
Kunz's distinctive and often skeptical Canadian outlook lends
an irreverent edge to her humorous portrayals of U.S. leaders.
During the 2000 presidential election, she created this amusing
picture for an article in GQ that chronicled the history
of male college cheerleaders. In this illustration she distills
the article's central point--that prominent Republican leaders,
including two past Presidents and a Senate Majority Leader, had
been undergraduate cheerleaders.The inclusion of George Bush,
Jr., then a leading contender for the Presidency, underscored
the persistence of this phenomenon.
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Cheerleaders, 2000
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board
Published in GQ, December, 2000 (11)
LC-USZC4-11581; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03319
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Vulture Capitalism,
2001
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board
Published in Forbes Magazine, April 2, 2001 (12)
LC-USZC4-11590; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03324
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Vulture Capitalism
Kunz created this image for an article on investing for the
business magazine Forbes. In the wake of many telecommunications
companies' recent bankruptcies, the article discusses the practice
of "vulture investing," or buying distressed debt securities
in the hope of large, profitable yields after a company is reorganized.
Kunz takes her cue directly from the text and characterizes the
investors as human-headed vultures with beak-like noses, wary
expressions, and talons that greedily grasp buildings and bundles
of currency.
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Self-Portrait
Anita Kunz's painting technique, especially her handling of
light and color and treatment of naturalistic detail, reminds
viewers of pictures by Flemish School painters of the early Renaissance.This
subtle, thought-provoking self-portrait is a case in point. Use
of the bust-length format within an arched frame, the predominantly
blond and gold tones, the detailed rendering of the face, and
the emotionally reserved expression, recall stylistic conventions
of sixteenth-century Northern European portraits. Coupled with
more modern elements, such as the lack of clothing and adornment
and Kunz's emphatic, unwavering gaze, these Old Master traditions
imbue the contemporary image with an interesting psychological
and formal tension.
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Self-Portrait, 2001
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board
Published ( in a manipulated version) in
NUVO, Summer 2001 (13)
LC-USZC4-11585; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03311
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Tugged, 2001
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board
Published in Working Woman, October 2001 (14)
LC-USZC4-11587; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03323
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Tugged
The quandary of the modern woman, beset by multiple competing
demands, expectations, and desires--imposed by herself no less
than others--is a theme that deeply engages Anita Kunz. Commissioned
for Working Woman magazine, this emblematic image captures
the tug of war experienced by many present-day women, graphically
demonstrating how they are pulled in different directions by
career, marriage, and motherhood.Tiny faces framed within the
symbolic trappings of career and home responsibilities--a briefcase,
cell phone, television, and office block--embody multiple voices
of conscience pulling on the figure's hair as she struggles to
maintain an air of calm.
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Human Guinea Pigs
Kunz often illustrates articles on topics in health and medicine
for both specialized science journals and popular mainstream
magazines.This composition is a visual response to an article
on human testing of various drugs and medical treatments.To get
her point across, she depicts a naked and vulnerable human figure
hunched uncomfortably inside a small cage.The figure's cramped
posture and closed facial expression visually convey the pain
and discomfort experienced by both humans and animals subjected
to such testing.
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Human Guinea Pigs, 2002
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board
Published in Time, April 22, 2002 (15)
LC-USZC4-11597; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03322
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Would Anyone Notice if Canada
Disappeared? 2003
Watercolor and gouache over graphite
on illustration board
Published as cover of Time (Canada), May 26, 2003 (16)
LC-USZC4-11660; LC-DIG-ppmsca-03474
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Would Anyone Notice if Canada Disappeared?
In this provocative view of the globe, Kunz has excised Canada--her
native country and the world's second largest country--leaving
only an immense void north of the lower forty-eight U.S. States.This
arresting image was published on the cover of an issue of the
Canadian edition of Time (Canada) to dramatically illustrate
the lead article discussing the nation's decreasing influence
in world affairs.
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