George R. Anthonisen: Meditations on the Human Condition

George R. Anthonisen: Meditations on the Human Condition is a comprehensive volume documenting the arc of Anthonisen’s artistic career spanning 65 years as a figurative sculptor. Well versed in history and current events, Anthonisen (b. 1936) creates visual dialogues, primarily in bronze, that investigate the human condition and people’s capacity to destroy, to create, to question, and to make noble choices. He is known for his thoughtful and sometimes haunting content and for championing the elegance and strength of the female form.

Career highlights include service as sculptor in residence at the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, and exhibitions at Dartmouth College, the National Academy of Design, the Woodmere Art Museum, the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, Yale University, and the James A. Michener Art Museum. In the 1970s, Anthonisen won a national competition to execute a sculpture of Senator Ernest Gruening for the United States Capitol and Ursinus College commissioned a monumental World War II diptych from the artist. His sculpture, Death and Starvation, was installed at the World health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland in 1985. Anthonisen has lived and worked in Solebury, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, since establishing his studio there in 1971.

Richly illustrated with more than 150 color and black-and-white plates, this book accompanies a major exhibition of the artist’s work at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Essays by exhibition curator Lisa Tremper Hanover, Laura Turner Igoe, and Clarisse Fava-Piz provide personal and historical context for the artist and his work.

Contributors: Lisa Tremper Hanover, Laura Turner Igoe, and Clarisse Fava-Piz

Lisa Tremper Hanover served as the director and chief executive officer of the James A. Michener Art Museum from 2012 to 2017, after a successful tenure as director of the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College. She currently serves the cultural field as a consultant specializing in organizational reviews, strategic planning, collection assessments, and preparing institutions for AAM accreditation. She has juried over one hundred art exhibitions and public art commissions.