Howard Munce Celebration at WAC, May 14

Westport, CT - The friends and family of Howard Munce invite the public to a celebration of the life of Howard Munce on Saturday, May 14 from 2 – 4 p.m. at the Westport Arts Center (51 Riverside Avenue).  The reception is free and open to the public.

Munce, known as the dean of Westport artists, died at his Westport home on March 5, 2016. He was 100 years old.  Munce was a well-known painter, illustrator, sculptor and writer, and a figurehead of Westport’s creative community since the 1930’s.

“Howard Munce was an incredibly generous and talented man, whose guiding influence helped shape the Westport Arts Center as well as the larger arts community of Westport. We are honored to host this celebration of his life and accomplishments,” said Amanda Innes, the Westport Arts Center’s Acting Executive Director.

Munce began his creative career in Westport in the late 1930s as an independent artist and writer, later attending Pratt Institute and graduating in 1938. These formative years included his experimentation with illustration, painting and sculpture. Each work showcased the mix of imagination, humanity and frank humor that would later become his hallmark.

According to his obituary, it was Munce’s time as a Marine and Second Lieutenant in the Pacific Theater of World War II that inspired his most public distinction. Harrowed by the horrors of combat, he penned an anti-war poem and cartoon that was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1946.

After the war, Munce worked as a creative director for notable New York advertising agencies like Young & Rubicam, J. Walter Thompson, and Foote, Cone & Belding. He led national accounts for Rheingold Beer, Jaguar and others with a keen eye, sense of humor and self-integrity. 

Disillusioned with the trials of advertising, Munce moved back to Westport and set out on his own as an illustrator, writer and teacher.

In Westport, Munce worked with, befriended or taught generations of creative residents. He could regularly be found attending sketch classes, curating shows and present at art openings into his nineties. 

Howard Munce is survived by his daughter Mary Brewster, his son Andrew Munce, their spouses, their children and their children’s children, as well as his sister-in-law Agnes Conover and the descendants of his late wife, Geraldine Conover.

For more information on the event, please contact the Westport Arts Center at 203/222-7070 or visit www.westportartscenter.org.