STEVENS, Lawrence Sterne

(1886-1960)

   US artist and illustrator who also signed himself Stephen Lawrence and just Lawrence. He trained as a newspaper artist and did not begin working in the sf PULP MAGAZINES until the early 1940s. Like Virgil FINLAY, though faster and more versatile, he was a master of pen-and-inkstippling; he never achieved Finlay's fame. LSS's finest work may be the dozens of interiors he did for Adventure 1943-54, though his ILLUSTRATIONS for FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES, STARTLING STORIES, SUPER SCIENCE STORIES and THRILLING WONDER STORIES are uniformly excellent. Portfolios include A Portfolio of Illustrations by Lawrence: Reproduced from Famous FantasticMysteries Magazine (nd) and A Portfolio of Ilustrations by Lawrence, 2nd Series: Reproduced from Famous Fantastic Mysteries Magazine (nd). In the case of magazine-cover paintings the Stephen Lawrence pseudonym was shared between LSS and his talented son, Peter Stevens (1920-); interior illustrations by Stephen Lawrence were all the work of LSS.

RB