The Old School: Harry Anderson

Last week's look at Canadian illustrators of the 50's reminded me once again about the clearly defined split between those artists who were experimenting with previously unseen styles and techniques and those who were fully immersed in "the old school".


In the States this split was perhaps a little less obvious since the new school of illustrators - most often thought of as "The Cooper Look" illustrators - still painted realism... its just that it was a sort of contemporized, more graphic approach to realism. Many of that "next generation" of artists had trained and apprenticed with the old school illustrators and it took them several years of experimentation to evolve their more modern techniques. But the "old school", fully rendered, "buttery" painting style was still very much in vogue, especially for the first half of the 50's.


Harry Anderson would most definitely be among the top tier of "old school" illustrator/painters. The amazing thing about Anderson is that he got that oil paint look, that "Sundblom style", with watercolour.


Want a closer look at these pieces and a bunch more by this artist? Take a look through my Harry Anderson Flickr set.