Carlos J. Anderson (Andreson) was born in Midvale, Utah in 1904.  Early in his career, he changed the spelling of his last name to distinguish himself from artists with last name, Anderson.  He was a painter, an illustrator, and a WPA artist who worked in Salt Lake, New York and San Francisco.  He died in Salt Lake City in 1978. 

Anderson studied at the University of Utah from 1924 to 1927 and at the Los Angeles Art Institute.  He also studied at the Art Students League (1930–32), at the Académie Julian (1932–33) and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris.

In 1933 he received a commission from the Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA) to paint a series of 24 historical Salt Lake buildings.  Known as the WPA collection, the State of Utah holds them as part of its collection.  

In the late 1930s Andreson moved to New York and began painting in the American Scene style, a stylized form of realism.  Snake River, Near Bliss (1942) and Road of Steel (1941) are examples of his easel paintings.

After World War II began, Abbott Laboratories commissioned Andreson to depict medical subjects at the stateside naval hospitals. He also had a twenty-year career as a graphic artist.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Museum of American Art, the Utah State Fine Arts Collection, and the Springville Museum of Art have his work as part of their collection.

Biographical information on this page was adapted from the Springville Museum of Art.