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Rannaissnce
13-14th century
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Impressionism
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Early 20th century
Waltwer Anderson
1903 - 1965
Walter Inglis Anderson was born in 1903 in New Orleans
to George Walter Anderson, a grain merchant, and
Annette McConnell Anderson, an artist. His mother’s love
of art, music, and literature strongly influenced Walter
(called "Bob" by his friends and family) and his two
brothers, Peter and Mac. Anderson 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.
Anderson returned to Ocean Springs and married a
Radcliffe graduate, Agnes (Sissy) Grinstead, started a
family, and 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 1930s, he worked on regional Works
Progress Administration mural projects and began to
view his role in art as a muralist.
It was in the late 1930s that Anderson first succumbed to
mental illness. He was diagnosed with severe depression
and spent three years in and out of hospitals. Following
his hospitalizations, Anderson joined his wife and small
children at her father’s antebellum home in Gautier,
Mississippi. The pastoral tranquillity of the "Oldfields"
plantation provided an ideal setting for recuperation.
During this period, he rendered thousands of disciplined
and compelling works of art which reflected his training,
intellect, and extraordinary grasp of the history of art.
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.
to George Walter Anderson, a grain merchant, and
Annette McConnell Anderson, an artist. His mother’s love
of art, music, and literature strongly influenced Walter
(called "Bob" by his friends and family) and his two
brothers, Peter and Mac. Anderson 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.
Anderson returned to Ocean Springs and married a
Radcliffe graduate, Agnes (Sissy) Grinstead, started a
family, and 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 1930s, he worked on regional Works
Progress Administration mural projects and began to
view his role in art as a muralist.
It was in the late 1930s that Anderson first succumbed to
mental illness. He was diagnosed with severe depression
and spent three years in and out of hospitals. Following
his hospitalizations, Anderson joined his wife and small
children at her father’s antebellum home in Gautier,
Mississippi. The pastoral tranquillity of the "Oldfields"
plantation provided an ideal setting for recuperation.
During this period, he rendered thousands of disciplined
and compelling works of art which reflected his training,
intellect, and extraordinary grasp of the history of art.
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.
