CHAMBER MEMBER SPOTLIGHT 

Hailed as “one of America’s outstanding figurative sculptors,” work by George Anthonisen deals primarily with the immutable essence of the individual person, the family, and human society in a changing world.  Born in Boston in 1936, Anthonisen spent his early years in Vermont. At the age of 8, Anthonisen was identified as learning disabled and tutored by Elizabeth Clark Gunther, a landscape architect and daughter of the Director of the American Academy in Rome. Her husband, John F. Gunther, was an architect and painter. Anthonisen spent three months, two years in a row, living in the Gunther home, and it was here he was first introduced to the world of art.
 
In 1955, stationed in Europe with the U.S. Army, Anthonisen visited the Louvre for the first time, where Nike of Samothrace (Winged Victory), Venus de Milo and Michelangelo’s Two Slaves left indelible impressions. After military service, he studied at the University of Vermont. He moved to New York in 1961 to master traditional art skills at the National Academy of Design followed by study at the Art Students League from 1962-1964. He returned to New Hampshire in 1967 to attend Dartmouth College Medical School where he studied human anatomy. This training enabled him to accurately represent the human form in his work.
 
While his contemporaries were captivated by latest trends in art, Anthonisen personalized modernism and remained true to his ideas. His work has remained timeless for its focus on synthesizing classical forms and compositions with a contemporary approach. In 1971, Anthonisen was named sculptor-in-residence of the Augustus Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire. In the same year, Anthonisen moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania where he has lived ever since.