(1891, Howells, Nebraska ‒ 1969, Omaha, Nebraska)

As an artist specializing in landscapes and frontier scenes, Anna Marie Beran spent most of her life in Omaha, Nebraska. Though she lived in one of the largest cities in the state, she kept close ties to her hometown of Howells in northeastern Nebraska. As one of seven children of Charles and Marie (Kalisek) Karnik, she and her family were very involved in the community. Indicative of her generosity toward Howells were the many gifts of paintings she sent friends over the years; her willingness to speak frequently to the Howells Women’s Club; and her donation in 1940 to the local high school auditorium of a “Nebraska Mural” which tells the story of Native Americans. The Howells Community Club celebrated Anna and her work on the mural with a formal banquet.

In 1910, at age 19, Anna married electrician Joseph James Beran and moved to Omaha. Essentially a self-taught painter, she exhibited her work in December 1930 at the Art Institute of Omaha, including a painting of Arizona’s Grand Canyon. She belonged to the North Omaha Women’s Club and Associated Artists of Omaha.

In 1950 her artwork was selected for the newly opened sales and rental gallery of Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum. Its purpose, according to then Joslyn Director Eugene Kingman, was to “encourage the use of contemporary art in homes and offices.” (Omaha World-Herald, 1950)

Anna Beran died at age 79 in December 1969. At the time of her death, the couple, married for 59 years, had been living at 3921 N. 21st Street. She is buried at the Bohemian Cemetery in Omaha.

Anna Beran is not represented in the Museum of Nebraska Art collection.

Sources:
Ancestry.com, Aug. 2014
Dawdy, Doris Ostrander, Artists of the American West, Volume III, Print
findagrave.com, Aug. 2014
Omaha World-Herald, newspaper: 5/11/1950, “Art Rentals to Begin Soon”

Researched, written, and copyrighted by Lonnie Pierson Dunbier
Museum of Nebraska Art Project:
Their Place, Their Time: Women Artists in Nebraska, 1825-1945