My Favs Illustrators: Harry Anderson

Harry Anderson was the last of a generation of illustrators from The Golden Age of Magazine Illustration. Born in 1906 in Chicago, he was going to be a mathematician. He started college at the University of Illinois in 1925. He took an art course as an easy counterpoint to the math classes and discovered both a talent and a love for drawing. He moved to Syracuse, New York, to attend the Syracuse School of Art in 1927. At Syracuse he met and roomed with Tom Lovell who became a lifelong friend and an important illustrator in his own right.
They graduated with honors and moved to New York to share a studio and make their fortune. His work appeared in Collier's, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, The Saturday Evening Post and others. The images were on a par with the best work being done at the time. He was featured in a 1956 issue of American Artist and received awards from several art associations throughout his career including the prestigious New York Art Directors Club. In 1994 he was inducted into the Society of Illustrators' Hall of Fame. He died in 1996 at the age of 90.