The Fantastic Art of Lawrence (Sterne Stevens)

 

Born in Michigan in 1884 Lawrence Sterne Stevens studied in Minneapolis and through his tutor Robert Koehler met the Czech painter and master graphic artist Alfons Mucha. The pair encouraged Stevens to move to Belgium to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. In Belgium, he struck up a friendship with the author Arthur Conan Doyle but as war descended upon Europe Stevens moved to Britain before enlisting in the US Navy. Whilst serving as a cartographer he was captured by the German army and only narrowly escaped execution as a spy. 
Following the war he returned to his studies in Belgium before moving to Wales with his wife where they had a son Peter (who would also become a graphic artist). Moving back to mainland Europe, he worked as a designer for the General Motors Company in Belgium. However war once more reared its ugly head and in 1940 the family moved to the USA, to New York. Here he began his career as a freelance illustrator working for various magazines, but it was in the world of pulp fiction that he made his lasting mark. As his father was a preacher of some note and shared the same name, he decided to sign his work simply as Lawrence. Producing work for the publications Argosy, Fantastic Novels, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Amazing Stories and A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, Stevens retired from illustration work in 1953 aged 69. He died in 1960 aged 76. 

Lawrence Sterne Stevens
(1884 - 1960)