S. P. Stevens — outdoor advertising man and artist — SA Light, Sept 1958

A September 1958 San Antonio Light item is the first source to explicitly combine two identities for S. P. Stevens: “the outdoor advertising man and artist.” His comment on the “buckeye artist” — someone who paints only a few subjects and lacks versatility — reads as a self-aware joke about range and craft. It was published in the same month he signed the 1958 woman-in-red portrait (signed S.P.Stevens ‘58), which remains in the research collection as one of two signed oil samples used for the Master Chef sign visual comparison.

Transcription

S. P. Stevens, the outdoor advertising man and artist, says a complete definition of a “buckeye artist” should include the fact he’s capable of painting only a few different kinds of pictures. That is, a buckeye artist lacks versatility.

Source

• San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Tex.), 12 September 1958 (Friday), p. 25.
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• Accessed: 2026-05-21