American Magazine, "The Shy Smile" (1949) Anderson, H - 008

Collier’s magazine had commissioned him to produce an illustration for a short story. The painting was a duotone produced in oil, and in reproduction, filled two columns. With this success. Anderson more confidently approached publishers and art agencies. Harry would credit William Chessman, art director at Collier’s and Frank Eltonhead at Ladies’ Home Journal for helping get his start as an illustrator.

He quit his job at the candy store and for the next two years painted diligently, earning enough money to pay off his debts, as well as saving for his return to Chicago. He told his friend Tom Lovell that he had had it up to his eyebrows with New York City.

Upon his return to Chicago, Anderson went to work as an illustrator in the bullpen of the Stevens-Gross Art Agency, the most successful art service agency in the Midwest, if not the entire country. They provided a central studio space for all of the artists, reps who brought in the work, along with models and photographers when necessary. For this, Stevens-Gross received 50% of the total amount billed. It was here that Harry began to make his mark in the field of illustration.

His first big assignment was a series of illustrations for a Cream of Wheat advertising campaign, produced in 1937. Other advertisers followed suit: Ford, Ovaltine, American Airlines and Buster Brown Shoes now requested his work. However, Harry preferred editorial illustration to advertising art and by 1940 he was receiving assignments from the nation’s most popular magazines, including Collier’s, Redbook, The Saturday Evening Post, Woman’s Home Companion, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Cosmopolitan.

How to Make a Picture
As an illustrator saddled with numerous deadlines, Anderson had to use his time efficiently and, therefore, employed the use of reference photographs. Anderson was an excellent photographer, under standing and exploiting the medium with strong lighting techniques and excellent composition. At a time when photography wasn’t a surefire endeavor, with exposure factors having to be accurately calculated, Harry had a head start on most artists with his mathematical background. This analytical perception surely aided him in his ability to consistently apply a methodical formula in creating a successful painting. He used a Rollei twin lens reflex (2 º x 2 º format), for shooting his reference photos.

Harry’s attention to referential detail was legendary; often sewing and manufacturing costumes and props. He had also constructed a darkroom in his studio, where he processed and printed his results. Often when there wasn’t time to arrange for a model, he would have friends or co-workers pose for him. While working on a picture for Woman’s Home Companion, Anderson arranged for a pretty young woman named Ruth Huebel pose for him. Ruth was the receptionist for David Smart, the power wielding editor of Esquire Magazine, whose offices were located in the penthouse of the same building which housed Stevens-Gross. A year after they met, Anderson and Huebel were married and started a family shortly thereafter. Anderson would join famed illustrator Haddon Sundblom’s circle of artists, increasing his workload of highly visible accounts, including Coca-Cola.

How to Make a Picture
Anderson never referred to the process of creating a painting or doing an illustration as such. For in stance, he would say that he was commissioned to “make a picture.” That thought process reveals his devotion to procedure. Rarely does a professional in any field proceed without a well-conceived plan or blueprint. By the early 1940s, however, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Harry to work due to severe stomach cramps and nausea. After a full year, his doctors finally diagnosed the problem. He was allergic to the turpentine in oil paint. This forced him to change his media and the way he approached painting.

He had been painting with oils since his days at Syracuse and employed a very direct method that was suitable for the application of oil paint. He tried to find a water-based media that had similar characteristics to oil. After experimenting with a number of types he finally settled on eggshell tempera. He had plenty of experience with it from his lettering days, but there were many differences between the two media. Tempera was much less forgiving. It dried faster and lighter than its wetted form. It also took considerably more effort to blend hues and values.

Harry actually changed and improved his technique. His paintings became more spontaneous and simply executed, ultimately becoming more visually effective. They read better, particularly when reduced in reproduction. Unfortunately, the company that produced the tempera paint Harry was using went out of business. Once again, he was faced with switching to another form of water-soluble paint. He experimented with acrylics and gouache, but found them unsuitable for his direct painting method. Ultimately he discovered and began to use casein, the medium he would paint with until the 1970s when it became hard to find.

Casein is one of the oldest forms of pigment binder, dating to the ancient Egyptians. It is produced from protein (such as milk) and a coagulating enzyme called rennin which is formed in the gastric juices of calves. The amount of rennin/protein/pigment mixture creates the relative viscosity, thus casein water-based paint is full bodied and has a similar weight and pull on the brush as oil paint. It is very opaque, has excellent blending characteristics without the aid of additional mediums, or can be washed in for under painting and scumbling. It can also be used right out of the tube for a heavier impasto look. These qualities suited the Harry just fine.