| Facts/Data
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Birth
1930 (Temple, New Hampshire)
Death
Lived/Active
Arizona
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Often Known For
Indian-western genre, landscape, mural
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Categories of Interest
Western Painters
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Known as a western painter, Roy Andersen did paintings of
Crow, Cheyenne, and Apache Indians. He began his career living in Chicago and New York and working as an
illustrator. He did numerous covers for Time Magazine including portraits of Albert Einstein and Prince Fahd. He also did illustrations for National Geographic
magazine, and did a stamp series on Dogs and American Horses, and in
1984 and 1985, won Stamp of the Year Award. As a muralist, he has
filled commissions for the National Park Service, the Royal Saudi Naval
Headquarters, and the E.E. Fogelson Vistor Center at Pecos National
Monument in New Mexico.
To pursue his talent for painting, Roy Anderson went West, living in
Arizona and settling in Cave Creek. In 1990, he was voted
official artist for Scottsdale's Parada del Sol, the "world's largest"
horse-drawn parade commemorating the Old West.
Andersen grew
up on an
apple farm in New Hampshire and learned about Indian customs from his
many hours spent at the Chicago Museum of Natural History. He is
meticulous about being historically accurate in his paintings. Of
him it was written: "There are no 'happy accidents' in an
Andersen painting. He has a knowledge of his subject that is
attained only through extensive research. You will not find an
Apache medicine bag around a Sioux warrior's neck nor a Cheyenne
carrying a rifle that is a bit too 'modern'. What you will see is
accuracy, an almost uncanny sense of composition and color harmony and
a strength of drawing that is remarkable. " (Dickerson)
His training
is from the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and the Art Center School of
Los Angeles.
Influenced by a cowboy uncle from Nebraska, he
often painted cowboy scenes that his art teachers said were passe. For
thirty years, he was an illustrator for National Geographic, Time magazine and Sports Illustrated and lived in New York and Chicago.
And
then he "went West looking for peace and a place where he could be his
own man in both his life and his art" (Prix de West, 14). He lived in
Arizona and Texas. In 1989, he was voted into membership into the
Cowboy Artists of America*, a group from whom he has received recognition at the annual exhibitions: Oil Painting Award, Silver, 1999 and Drawing and Other Media, Silver, 2000.
Sources:
Prix de West 2003 catalogue
Bill Dickerson, Roy Andersen, 1998 Exhibition Catalog of O'Brien's Emporium, Scottsdale, Arizona
Southwest Art magazine
Artist Files of Phoenix Art Museum Library
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Biography from Claggett/Rey Gallery:
| Roy Andersen honed a natural talent upon the whetstone of formal study at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and the Art Center School in Los Angeles. He achieved distinction in the crowded world of illustration art; producing work for such prestigious periodicals as National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and Time. He also executed commissions for everything from Hollywood studios to the U.S. Postal Service.
During a career that spanned more than thirty years, Andersen developed the discipline and capacity for hard work that is essential to all who harbor hope for artistic success. Finally, from the need to be free, to live and to paint according to his own choosing, he took the reins in hand.
A member of th Cowboy Artists of America since 1989, Roy and his wife Lui reside outside of Kerrville, Texas.
"Indians believe life moves in circles. I return to a love of horses and the native people who lived their lives on horse back. I paint Indians not just because they are picturesque, but because they are living symbols, that express the thoughts of free men and animals moving through a natural world. They are real, serious, and honest people looking for a connection between God and their own nature and the beautiful landscape around them.
"My love is the pure joy of playing with paint. After all an artist should take pleasure in his work. My next painting will be my best one, so all you can do is tell the tale as you know it and if you err, do it on the side of a great truth....beauty." |
Biography from Altermann Galleries and Auctioneers, Santa Fe I:
| “A long time ago a kid dreamed of being a western artist. Life is full of blind alleys and detours, but sometimes, just sometimes you end up just where you wanted to be all along. Painting the things you love.”
Roy Andersen honed a natural talent upon the whetstone of formal study at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art and the Art Center School in Los Angeles. He achieved distinction in the crowded world of illustration art; producing work for such prestigious periodicals as National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and time. He also executed commissions for everything from Hollywood studios to the U.S. Postal Service.
During a career that spanned more than 30 years, Anderson developed the discipline and capacity for hard work that is essential to all who harbor hope for artistic success. Finally, from the need to be free, to live and to paint according to this own choosing, he took the reins in hand.
Asked to join the Cowboy Artists of America in 1989, Roy and his wife Lui now live on a small ranch near Ingram, Texas, where he has just moved into a new studio.
Resources include 2002 Cowboy Artists of America Exhibition catalogue
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| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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