Weber, Anna (1814-1888). Watercolour Fraktur Painting. A large and impressive folk art fraktur-type painting by Anna Weber (born 1814 Lancaster County, Pa., died 1888 Waterloo County, Ont.). Watercolour and ink. Signed in fraktur writing, dated 1870. The design, executed in blues, red, yellow and brown, consisting of eleven pairs of birds, each pair of differing type, nine pairs being seated within stylized flowers and a flower-like central tree. Two pairs, including peacocks, are depicted on the ground. The whole image surrounded by a border of polka dots, a technique often used by the artist. This work is among the largest and best-known examples of Anna Weber’s paintings. Now housed with a custom painted wooden frame. Not examined out of frame. Ex-collection: Professor and Mrs. Lawrence Cummings, Kitchener, Ont. Illustrated as plate 115 in A People’s Art, by J. Russell Harper, University of Toronto Press, 1974; and plate 180 in Ontario Fraktur by Michael Bird M.F. Feheley Publishers Limited, 1977. Further reading – Anna’s Art, by E. Reginald Good, Pochauna Publications, Kitchener 1976. The following is quoted from E. Reginald Good’s entry in the Dictionary of Canadian biography: “About 1855 Anna began the painting of distinctive pen and wash fraktur art, which she continued until her death. This form of art had originated in Germany more than two centuries previously but was highly developed by the Pennsylvania-Germans. It is a purely decorative art, often used to illustrate manuscripts, book-plates, and such family records as birth and baptismal certificates. There is a definite lack of perspective in these pieces and scale is ignored. Recurring motifs – hearts, tulips, paired birds, and the tree of life – appear in balanced, usually symmetrical, form. Anna inherited and developed these traditional designs but her actual subjects were usually taken from nature. Instead of the traditional unicorn, for example, Anna would portray a stylized horse. Practically all of Anna Weber’s fraktur works are signed and precisely dated, with the lettering forming an integral part of the painted frame around each design. Her paintings, which resemble art nouveau stained glass or tiles, display a good sense of composition and colours which are soft and yet definite. The whole effect is one of assurance, and presumably pleasure, in these sprightly finished products which were often made as gifts for children. The majority of fraktur artists, including Mr Altsdorf who probably taught Anna in Pennsylvania, were schoolmasters. A female fraktur artist was an anomaly but Anna was the most original and prolific of Ontario’s fraktur artists. Although afflicted with dropsy, arthritis, and the ailments of age, her concentrated efforts produced many fraktur paintings, of which about 60 are extant. Anna Weber was said to have been of “unbrilliant mind,” but because of her individualistic temperament she was allowed to sign her paintings – a “sinful” practice in the self-denying Mennonite community. Like much folk art in Canada, Anna’s is dominated by nature and her fraktur paintings also reflect her strong ethnic heritage.”. 18 x 14". CODE:PFA Miller Times article featuring this lot: https://millerandmillerauctions.squarespace.com/stories/2021/9/22/from-billions-to-extinction-passenger-pigeon