Anderson received a B.F.A. in 1950 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an M.F.A. in 1952 from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He also studied with Edwin Dickinson at New York's Art Students League in 1954. In Academy annual exhibitions his works have been awarded an Altman prize, 1981, and the Carlsen award, 1983 and 1988. Among his other honors are the Raymond A. Speiser Memorial Prize from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tiffany Foundation, and the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Anderson has been an instructor at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York; the Art Students League; Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; and the Skowhegan (Maine) School. He is presently distinguished professor of art at Brooklyn College, the City University of New York. He resides in Brooklyn; and is represented by Davis and Langdale, New York.