Anita Kunz was the first woman and first Canadian to have a solo exhibit at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
25 Facts About Anita Kunz
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Anita Kunz's work imparted to her the potential for illustration to hold social messages, leading her to study at the Ontario College of Art, from which she graduated in 1978.
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Anita Kunz started sending her work to various magazines after beginning her career with assignments in advertising.
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For Woodward, Anita Kunz was an obvious choice to be one of the two artists illustrating for his back-of-the-magazine series called "The History of Rock and Roll," which ran from 1988 to 1990.
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Anita Kunz has lived in London, New York City and Toronto, contributing to magazines and working for design firms, book publishers and advertising agencies in Germany, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Canada, South Africa, Holland, Portugal, France and England.
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Anita Kunz has illustrated over fifty book jacket covers and has created cover art and editorial illustrations for many magazines including Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times Magazine, earning commissions of up to US$5,000.
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Anita Kunz has been commissioned by The New Yorker for more than twenty covers.
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Anita Kunz has had exhibitions since 1987, when she showed a collection of her works at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, London.
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Anita Kunz has held summer workshops for the Master of Arts program at Syracuse University at the Illustration Academy in Sarasota, Florida.
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Anita Kunz often leads workshops and gives lectures at universities and institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC.
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In 2007 Anita Kunz was inducted as a member into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
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Anita Kunz has written three art books, Another History of Art published by Fantagraphics Books in spring 2021 and Original Sisters: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage with a foreword by Roxane Gay released in the fall of 2021.
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Anita Kunz produced a book of nudes entitled "A Handy Guide to the Male Nude" published by Fantagraphics, in 2023.
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In 2021, Anita Kunz discussed her "portraits of unsung women and her equally feminist but far more fantastical vision of art history" in The New Yorker Magazine.
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Anita Kunz is represented by The Philippe Labaune Gallery in New York City.
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In 1997, Anita Kunz was the recipient of the Les Usherwood Lifetime Achievement Award from the Advertising and Design Club of Canada.
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Anita Kunz received the Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators in 2003.
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In 2009, Anita Kunz was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada "for her contributions as an illustrator whose insightful works have graced publications around the world".
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Anita Kunz was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
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In 2010, Anita Kunz was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from her alma mater, OCAD University.
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Anita Kunz was given a second Honorary DFA by Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2015.
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In 2016, Anita Kunz was one of three winners of Applied Arts magazine's Golden AACE lifetime achievement Awards.
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Anita Kunz was recognized by her alma mater again when she was one of the 2017 recipients of the Alumni of Influence Awards.
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Anita Kunz has a certain Flemish sense of the grotesque.
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Anita Kunz aims to use her art to widely communicate concepts that are novel and challenging.