Harry Anderson, my favorite illustrator
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Born August 11, 1906 -- Died November 19, 1996
A Very Sad Day in New York City: Harry Anderson did this painting of Jesus overlooking the city of New York in 1956, and I thought it appropriate to post it because of September 11, 2001 the day the World Trade Center buildings were destroyed by terrorists, a very sad and terrible event. Notice that the twin towers are not in the picture -- that is because Harry painting this painting before they were built -- and now they are gone again. BELOW: Jesus making an appeal to the United Nations that the peoples of the world can live in peace with each other.
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I Visited Harry Anderson in 1986....
BELOW: In 1986 I took this photo of Harry Anderson holding one of his originals that I especially liked -- one of his old 1930's illustrations of his young children reading THE SUNDAY COMICS! Remember, I have been a "cartoonist" for the past 40 years -- I grew up clipping and saving various comic strips, which is how I fell in love with the art form, so I really enjoyed seeing that Harry had done this beautiful illustration of his kids reading the Sunday comic pages!
23 Years Later....
I finally found a copy of the 1949 magazine that printed this great painting on the cover!!!!!!!
Absolutely beautiful work!
BELOW: I never knew that Harry did any illustrations for SPORTS AFIELD magazine -- here's one I recently found in the Nov. 1964 issue:
... and another in the May 1965 issue!!
BELOW: I visited Harry Anderson at his home in Connecticut in June of 1986 -- Harry Anderson's illustration talents were on the same level with illustrators like Norman Rockwell, and after Harry became a Christian in 1945 he did 300+ wonderful paintings of Jesus and the stories in the Bible, and I have kept my eyes open to collect copies of any of his work that I can find!
ABOVE: Me and Harry Anderson in 1986 with his beautiful home in the background.
BELOW: Harry is helping my friend Kurt Reichenbach set up his photography equipment.
ABOVE: My friend Kurt Reichenbach getting ready to take some photos of Harry in his art studio at his drawing board that he had used since the 1930s!
ABOVE: Kurt holding a cute "rabbit-lady" painting.
ABOVE: A photo was taken by Steve Rude, a cartoonist friend of mine who also loves Harry's work.
ABOVE and BELOW: Several of Harry Anderson's original paintings are on display at the Review and Herald Publishing Company in Hagerstown, Maryland -- these 2 photos were taken in 1985
BELOW: Roland Hegstad, ex-editor of LIBERTY magazine, in the hallway at the R&H with 3 of Harry's originals hanging on the walls in 1985.
BELOW: Me with one of Harry's beautiful paintings of Christ comforting a repentant sinner.
BELOW: A mural done from one of Harry's paintings in the entry way of an SDA school in Maryland.
BELOW: Here's a recent addition to my collection: A 1960 Harry Anderson puzzle! It's hard to believe, but nearly 50 years after it was published, I found a copy of this 1960 puzzle on eBay!...
ABOVE: Harry autographed my copy of his beautiful portrait of Jesus holding the world in His hands that was used for many years on the IT IS WRITTEN television program. BELOW: An unpublished version of that well-known painting of Jesus holding the world!
ABOVE: Harry's painting studio was located above his garage --
ABOVE: Time for us to get in our car and say "Goodbye" -- this was the one and only time I ever had the chance to visit Harry, for 3-4 hours in 1986 -- it was great! We got to see lots of his paintings, and we also enjoyed sitting and talking for a while out in their beautiful back porch area (below) where we all had a glass of homemade lemonade.
Harry Anderson was a wonderful Christian man, and an extremely talented painter and illustrator -- it was a joy to be able to meet him!
ABOVE: The photo of Harry and Ruth that was on the cover of the April 19, 1979 issue of the ADVENTIST REVIEW magazine -- Harry is standing next to his very first painting of Jesus that he did in 1945 entitled "What Happened to Your Hand?" BELOW: My photo of the original of "What Happened to Your Hand?" when it was on display at the R&H in 1985. The painting had been water-damaged in a fire years ago, and all but the center area of Jesus and the little girl on His lap in the painting had gotten smeared when water seeped in from the outer edges of the frame --- Harry was asked back then if he could retouch it, but he did not feel that he could do it, so the damaged original of his most famous painting of Christ remains to this day "as is."
BELOW: Harry signing an autograph at the R&H open house in 1979, and Harry being presented with a Congressional Certificate of Commendation by Congressman Don Clausen.
BELOW: One of Harry's more rare paintings of Jesus, and a picture of Harry with the framed original artwork.
BELOW: Harry Anderson's 90th birthday with his wife Ruth and his daughter Kristen -- and an "unpublished" color sketch of Jesus. Harry passed away three months later -- lots of people really miss Harry and look forward to seeing him in heaven!
UPDATE: A Display of Harry Anderson's Work at the World Headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
ABOVE: Harry's self-portrait and various originals are on display in an alcove room off the main worship hall at the GC (photos taken October 2000). BELOW: They also displayed some of Harry's preliminary color sketches that he did of his well known paintings in glass display cases.
A Gallery of Harry Anderson's "Rare" Artwork
NOTE: If you are a "serious collector" of Harry's artwork and want to have a LARGER jpeg of any of these illustrations e-mailed to you, just let me know!
SURPRISE! I recently discovered that Harry did a 2nd painting using the same 3 boys and the Collie dog:
ABOVE: This illustration was from a 1941 issue of Cosmopolitan.
ABOVE: These are 2 of the 12 car illustrations that Harry did for a 1974 EXXON calendar
ABOVE: A beautiful illustration for The Saturday Evening Post (year unknown). The caption says: "17 Babies this week -- and he hasn't seen his own Grandson!"
ABOVE: A cover of the Woman's Home Companion magazine (year unknown). BELOW: The March 1949 issue.
ABOVE and BELOW: Very "playful" illustrations done for a 1954-55 children's calendar.
BELOW: An absolutely *GORGEOUS* illustration!! (Year unknown, magazine unknown.)
BELOW: A painting from the March 1948 Women's Home Companion magazine.
How to Order Harry Anderson Poster Prints
Most of the posters that have been published by the Review and Herald during the 1960s and 1970s are "out of print" and very hard to find -- you could try contacting various Adventist Bookstores around the country and see if any of them have any copies still sitting around. Most of Harry's paintings are kept in print as the covers and interior illustrations for numerous books published by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Harry's Paintings for the LDS Church (biblical topics only)
In the late 1970s Harry Anderson did several paintings for the Mormons, and prints of these paintings are currently available at the very reasonable prices!
ABOVE: A very nice photo of Harry Anderson taken by Dennis Crews, printed 1997
LATEST NEWS: The SDA church is going to prepare a website where everyone can access the hundreds of paintings that Harry did for the SDA church -- it will be at www.BibleGallery.com when it's up!
(c) 2001-2010 -- My text and my photos on this website are copyright Jim Pinkoski
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