Vintage MCM Woodcut/Engraving Titled ‘Three Owls’ Signed by Fannie Mennen (1903-1995)

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Description

On Momigami paper
12” wide x 15” tall
Unframed; never framed; has been in dry storage and is available for … Read more On Momigami paper
12” wide x 15” tall
Unframed; never framed; has been in dry storage and is available for the 1st time since the 1960s purchase..

Monogram lower left corner
Artist titled
Artist signed
Artist notes type of paper
Handmade paper imported

Fannie Rebekah Mennen was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1903. Georgia/Tennessee artist.
• At 8 months old, Mennen arrived in Chattanooga, TN when her father was asked to lead the oldest synagogue in the city.
• At 1 year old she contracted polio and suffered multiple surgeries in her youth leaving her disabled.
• 1929- Mennen attended George Peabody College for an education and music degree.
• 1931- Mennen began teaching art in the Chattanooga TN school system
• 1934- She moved into her home she named ‘Plum Nelly,’ based on the expression "Plum out of Tennessee and Nelly out of Georgia." The home was two log cabins joined by a dogtrot, located on acreage on a rocky bluff of Lookout Mountain, GA, on the southwestern edge of Chattanooga, TN. Over many years, on a teacher’s salary, Mennen remodeled the home and continued to purchase surrounding land.
• 1945 she completed studies at Columbia University and received her master’s degree in art teaching. She continued art studies in night school and in summer sessions at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the University of Cincinnati.
• 1947 through 1974- Mennen created and sponsored the Plum Nelly Clothesline Art Show at her home for the first time. The show attracted over thirty fellow artists in painting, jewelry, wood carving, print making, pottery, weaving and other arts. It was staged on her property, up a winding road in grassy meadows and under tree branches, with trails of wood chips. Over 18,000 customers attended the show during the 27 years it was held.
• 1953- She was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship to travel to Haiti.
• 1959- Mennen entered the Southern Highland Craft Guild, often demonstrating her talent at the Craft Fairs, and became a life member in 1983 until her death in 1995.
• 1961- After 30 years teaching, she retired to pursue her own craft.
• After retirement, Mennen became a member of ‘12 Designer Craftsmen,’ a prominent cooperative gallery and group of artisans based in Gatlinburg, TN. It showcased high-quality, handmade, and unique crafts, including pottery, weaving, and sculpture, serving as a major center for Appalachian artisan work. She also sold her work through her sister, Mrs. Celia Marks, at her Plum Nelly Shop in Chattanooga.
• 1976- She demonstrated print making at Callaway Gardens, sponsored through the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Mennen practiced print making and was well known for her block printed trapunto pillows with images stuffed and quilted adding a three-dimensional effect. She gouged and cut both woodcuts and linoleum blocks and mixed her own dyes preferring black, brown, orange and green. She also produced note cards, wall hangings, and tote bags. Her designs included wildflowers, trees, and Appalachian animals. She also used Mimbres, the cartoonish black animal figures on white pottery from Pre-Columbian Southwestern Indian pottery. Her love of paper compelled her at times to print on up to twenty varieties of paper.

Mennen voiced her love of teaching and sharing art, "I discovered I could bring art out of other people."

The Plum Nelly shop is still in existence; a continuous succession of women to own the shop since its inception. See less