Ann Hunt Spencer

Ann Hunt Spencer Pratt (1913–1972) was an American painter. She is best known for her New Deal era mural in the Southington, Connecticut Post Office.

Ann Spencer Pratt
Born
Ann Hunt Spencer

1913 (1913)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedDecember 31, 1972(1972-12-31) (aged 59)
Canaan, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
Known formuralist
SpouseLawrence S. Pratt
Southington, Connecticut. Southington's U.S. Post Office with the mural Romance of Southington

Biography

Pratt née Spencer was born in 1913 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1] She attended Sarah Lawrence College and studied at the National Academy of Design.[2] In 1940 she married Lawrence S. Pratt.[3] The couple later divorced.[2]

In 1942 Pratt painted the mural Romance of Southington for the Southington, Connecticut Post Office.The mural was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA).[4][5] She exhibited her work at the Berkshire Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the National Academy of Design.[2]

Pratt, who had deep red hair, was friends with many artists and often the subject of paintings by them, sitting for example for portraits by Jerry Farnsworth and the author and painter Barbara Comfort. A portrait of her as a 12-year-old girl by Helen Maria Turner sold at auction in 2021 for $40,000.[6]

She died on December 31, 1972, of complications from an aneurysm in Canaan, Connecticut.[2]

References
  1. "Ann Spencer Pratt - Biography". AskArt. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  2. "Mrs. Ann S. Pratt". The New York Times. January 1, 1973. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  3. "Ann H. Spencer Becomes Bride; Married in Ceremony in the Church of Ascension to Lawrence S. Pratt". The New York Times. June 9, 1940. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  4. "Post Office Mural - Southington CT". Living New Deal. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  5. "Artist: Ann Hunt Spencer". New Deal Art Registry. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
  6. "Sold at Auction: Helen M. Turner, HELEN MARIA TURNER, American (1858-1958), "Portrait of Anne Spencer," c. 1925, oil on canvas, signed and inscribed lower left "Helen..." Retrieved June 7, 2023.
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