Walter Anderson

1903 - 1965

Water Anderson was born in New Orleans, LAAnderson was educated at a private boarding school, then attended the Parsons Institute of Design in New York and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where his drawings earned him a scholarship for study abroad. He traveled throughout Europe and was particularly impressed with the cave art he saw at Les Eyzies in France. His wide-ranging interests included extensive reading of poetry, history, natural science and art history. He pursued man’s search for meaning in books of folklore, mythology, philosophy, and epics of voyage and discovery. He returned to Ocean Springs, MS, gets married and has children. He went to work creating molds and decorating earthenware at Shearwater Pottery, founded by his brother Peter. Anderson felt that an artist should create affordable work that brought pleasure to others, and in return, the artist should be able to pursue his artistic passions.In the 1930’s he struggles with mental illness and is in and out of hospitals for treatment. In 1947, with the understanding of his family, Anderson left his wife and children and embarked on a private and very solitary existence. He lived alone in a cottage on the Shearwater compound, and increased his visits to Horn Island, one of a group of barrier islands along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He would row the 12 miles in a small skiff, carrying minimal necessities and his art supplies. Anderson spent long periods of time on this uninhabited island over the last 18 years of his life. There he lived primitively, working in the open and sleeping under his boat, sometimes for weeks at a time

He endured extreme weather conditions, from blistering summers to hurricane winds and freezing winters. He painted and drew a multitude of species of island vegetation, animals, birds, and insects, penetrating the wild thickets on hands and knees and lying in lagoons in his search to record his beloved island paradise. Anderson’s obsession to "realize" his subjects through his art, to be one with the natural world instead of an

intruder, created works that are intense and evocative.Walter Anderson died at the age of 62 in a New Orleans

hospital of lung cancer. Much of the work survived only by chance; it was discovered in drifts, like autumn leaves,

throughout his cottage after his death. Those found treasures present the viewer today with a fascinating opportunity to

share Anderson’s vision.

Waves on Horn Island, c.1960 (Watercolor)On Loan from the Collection of Carolyn Bolton Cox

Goldenrod, c. 1960, Watercolor

The Artist’s Friends in Camp, c.1955 (Watercolor)On Loan from Family of Walter Anderson

Walter Anderson Rowing His Boat, c.1955 (Watercolor)On Loan from Family of Walter Anderson

Goldenrod, c. 1960, Watercolor

Horn Island Triptych, c.1960 (Watercolor) ~ The Walter Anderson Museum of Art Permanent Collection

Painting still life is one way of paying the debt which we owe to the earth. All the beauty, all the form and our own inadequacy in expressing our gratitude is slightly satisfied by increasing our consciousness of the beauty of fruit, flowers, vegetables, the voluptuous return, gift of an austere mother to her children. .. Walter Anderson

Copyright 1999, Walter Anderson Museum of Art

Frigate Birds

Jupiter Panel CartoonOcean Springs CommunityCenter MuralWatercolor

Palmettos

Watercolor

Persimmon Tree

Watercolor

Pitcher PlantsCrayon Drawing

Broad Leaf MagnoliaWatercolor

Tobey IIWatercolor

Horn Island SpringWatercolor

Rowing at Night by Walter Inglis Anderson

East Wall: Sunrise

South Wall: Noon

The Sun

Horn Island View

Lagoon and Ripples

Storm Clouds Over Horn

Alligator in Pond

Blue Crabs

Monarchs

Snake with Pattern

Palmettos

Young Herons

Baby Pelicans

Shells on Table

Turtle

Dead Fish on Beach

Dead Pelican

Bird Apparition

Watercolor Vocabulary

1.transparent- able to be seen through

2. wash- a color mixed with water.

3. texture- the way a surface looks and feels

4. aquarelle- the French word for transparent watercolor

5. hot-press papers- smooth watercolor paper

6. cold-press papers- rough and extremely textured watercolor paper