Birth place or City of origin: | Milwaukee |
State of origin: | WI |
Last known City: | |
Last known State: | NY |
Start/Birth date: | 1934 |
Death/End date: | 1999 |
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ross Stefan developed a love for the arts at an early age of 13, debuting his first show. Because of health, he moved to southern Arizona enrolling at the University of Arizona and sketching part-time for the Tucson newspaper. By 1955 he began to paint full-time, staying with the Navajos and using the land and the people as his ongoing trademark. His paintings, using airy and wide, impressionistic brush strokes, became a sensation. In 1971 his New York one-man show, consisting of 16 oils of Southwestern landscapes and figures, sold out the first night!
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Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ross Stefan became a painter of western scenes in traditional style. His subjects are Southwestern desert and mountain landscapes and stereotypical figures of that part of the country.
He had his first one-man show at age 13 and then living in Wisconsin, was much influenced by a studio visit to Dan Muller, an illustrator.
In 1953, when he was a teenager, he moved to Tucson, Arizona with his family, and his father worked in advertising, which furthered Stefan's interest in illustration art. He studied art and philosophy at the University of Arizona and did part-time sketching for the Tucson newspaper.
Norman Rockwell was one of his early heroes. Encouraged by Ivan Rosequist, pioneer Arizona art dealer in Tucson, Stefan quit his unproductive activities in the University of Arizona art department and set out on his own as a fine artist.
Biography courtesy of: Peggy and Harold Samuels, The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West