Harry Anderson (artist)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Harry Anderson | |
| Born | August 11, 1906 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.[1] |
| Died | November 19, 1996 (aged 90) |
| Nationality | American (United States) |
| Field | Painting, Illustration |
| Training | Syracuse School of Art |
| Patrons | Seventh-day Adventist Church, Exxon, numerous magazines |
| Awards | New York Art Directors Club, Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame[2] |
Harry Anderson (August 11, 1906–November 19, 1996[3]) was a Seventh-day Adventist artist. He is best known for the number of paintings he produced for the Adventist church.
[edit] Biography
Originally intending to be a mathematician, in 1925 while attending the University of Illinois, Anderson discovered a talent and love for drawing and painting.[1] In 1927 he moved to Syracuse, New York and attended the Syracuse School of Art for classical art education.[1] He graduated in 1931 during the Great Depression and had difficulty making a living. Within a year he earned enough by doing art for magazines to return home to Chicago. By 1937 he was working on national advertising campaigns and doing work for several major magazines, such as Collier's, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, The Saturday Evening Post and others.[1]
About 1940 he married Ruth Huebel,[4] a girl who worked in his building and posed for him on one occasion.[1] The following year he went to work for Haddon Sundblom's studio. In 1944 Anderson and his wife joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church and, by request, did a painting of Jesus. Anderson's painting, "What Happened to Your Hand?", depicting Jesus with modern-day children was decried as blasphemous by some adults, but was eventually printed in the publishing program.[1] From that time on, he split his time between commercial works and religious ones. He did the religious-themed pieces for near minimum wage.[1]
He was featured in a 1956 issue of American Artist and received awards from several associations throughout his career. He even was awarded the prestigious New York Art Directors Club. In 1994 he was inducted into the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame.[1]
In the 1960s he did work for Exxon Oil (then Esson). In the mid-1960s he did a number of paintings for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He did a large oil mural of Jesus ordaining his apostles for the 1964 New York World's Fair for the church. Following this, he did at least two dozen more paintings for them.[4] They were displayed in the Visitors Center in Temple Square and other prominent locations.[4] The paintings are still widely used within the church for many of their printed and online material.
In his spare time, Anderson enjoyed crafting model ships and buggies, hooking rugs, carving flocks of birds, making furniture and other hands-on crafts.[1]
He passed away on November 19, 1996.
In March 2008, Anderson's work was discussed on a segment of PBS' History Detectives covering a comic book he did about the famous amputee baseball player Pete Gray.
[edit] Biographies
- Harry Anderson: The Man Behind the Paintings, Woolsey, Raymond H. and Anderson, Ruth.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harry Anderson biography from BPIB
- ^ Hall of Fame of the Society of Illustrators
- ^ Harry Anderson from Pinkoski.com
- ^ a b c Harry Anderson from School of Abraham
