Stephen Anderson
Born in Rockford, Illinois
July 16, 1953

Folk painter Stephen Warde Anderson always had a "feeling" that he was destined to do something in the arts. After a year's try at college, he joined the Navy, serving on the guided missile frigate U.S.S. Richard L. Page from 1972 through 1976. "I was stationed in Athens, Greece," he said, "so I had a chance to see bits of old world history."

Anderson's father, a bricklayer, allowed his son to live at home after his discharge in 1976 so that he would have the chance to try to make art.

"I am fascinated by women in history," Anderson says. He paints Greek goddesses (Athena, for example), imaginary women (the Seven Temptations), and women who have played a part in history (Cleopatra). All of his women appear to be mature and well endowed. "I don't have a model," he says. "They are my idea of perfect females." The artist uses books on mythology and history [as well as films] in choosing his women.

Source: Chuck and Jan Rosenak's Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century American Folk Art and Artists