Happy 101st birthday to Wellesley’s Anne Powers

Anne Powers, who has lived in Wellesley for more than 70 years, just celebrated her 101st birthday. So yes, of course she deserved at least 2 parties.

Harry Powers, the oldest of her 4 children, tells us that the celebrations included her children and their partners, as well as her younger sister, who is 95. Harry’s younger siblings are named George, Kathy, and Eleanor.

Aside from attending parties, another way Anne Powers remains active is through daily sketching. A graduate of Vassar College and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, she’s been been a prolific artist throughout her life.

Born in Boston and raised in Brookline, Powers came to Wellesley after marrying Burton Powers, who moved here in the late 1940’s after serving in the Navy. He moved here to be near his father, who was the medical director at a small mental health facility on Grove Street. Burton Powers,  a lawyer who practiced in Boston well into his 80’s, first lived with his wife on Ingraham Road in Wellesley, and later Benvenue Street.

Anne Powers has been an active artist since 1948, according to her son, primarily as a painter. But she has also sculpted and made prints. “At first she would use whatever space was available as a studio. By the mid 1980’s, after all of her children had grown and moved on, my mother was able to set up a permanent studio on the third floor of the house and installed a flat bed printing press in my old room on the second floor,” Harry says.

Known as “Anne Lyman Powers” in the art world, she is currently represented by a Newbury Street Gallery and has sold many paintings and prints over the years, according to her son, who adds that the MFA has one of her paintings in their collection.

In an online biography, Powers said she became interested in painting at around the age of 16. “I have always preferred realist painting with recognizable subject matter – but a subject matter that has two aspects. The first is that the subjects should be explicit – portraits, human or animal forms, landscapes, still life and so on. I have never limited myself in any way here. I say to myself that I’ll paint anything, any time, anywhere. So most of it reflects my home and family, friends, occupations and travels. I feel free to absorb influences from any direction: a bit of surrealism, a bit of pop, a bit of abstract expressionism.

“The second aspect addresses the object which is the painting – or whatever the work is – its composition, color relationships and texture. The considerations here should obey rules for abstraction. The marriage between these two principal aspects should be accomplished in a way which makes possible and enhances a feeling, an experience or a statement about the world in which we live or about the human condition. In short: a realist abstraction or abstract realism. That’s where the interest lies for me—in the tension to be resolved.”

Powers, who turned 101 on Sept. 13,  is 1 of 15 centenarians living in Wellesley.

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