What do you think?
Rate this book
The Art of Walter Anderson
In his sixty-two years Walter Anderson was stupendously productive. He created much of his art in obscurity, and only after his death in 1965 did the magnitude of his labors and genius come to light.
His works teem in the thousands and take many forms--watercolors, oil paintings, drawings, block prints, figurines, pottery, and murals. He produced more than ten thousand pen-and-ink illustrations, as well as poems, stories, journals, and letters.
Bringing together more than 175 full-color images, including works never before shown to the public, this catalog places Anderson in the context of his peers in twentieth-century American art and portrays him both as a major artist and a renaissance man.
Born in New Orleans in 1903 and trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Anderson spent most of his life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast absorbed by poetry, music, art history, and natural science. A loner, he found his identity in the wilderness of pine savannahs and barrier islands along the coast. It was this natural wild that most imbued his art.
To honor Anderson on his centennial, this representative sampling of his work reveals him as an eccentric genius who explored the profound order of creation and made spiritual excursions into the terra incognita of the mind and inner self.
The contributors to this volume include noted art historians and curators from the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Walter Anderson, and research staff at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. They write in praise and in assessment of Anderson's art, share insights into his mysteries and techniques, and raise public awareness of his significance.
Patricia Pinson is curator of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
His works teem in the thousands and take many forms--watercolors, oil paintings, drawings, block prints, figurines, pottery, and murals. He produced more than ten thousand pen-and-ink illustrations, as well as poems, stories, journals, and letters.
Bringing together more than 175 full-color images, including works never before shown to the public, this catalog places Anderson in the context of his peers in twentieth-century American art and portrays him both as a major artist and a renaissance man.
Born in New Orleans in 1903 and trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Anderson spent most of his life on the Mississippi Gulf Coast absorbed by poetry, music, art history, and natural science. A loner, he found his identity in the wilderness of pine savannahs and barrier islands along the coast. It was this natural wild that most imbued his art.
To honor Anderson on his centennial, this representative sampling of his work reveals him as an eccentric genius who explored the profound order of creation and made spiritual excursions into the terra incognita of the mind and inner self.
The contributors to this volume include noted art historians and curators from the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Walter Anderson, and research staff at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art. They write in praise and in assessment of Anderson's art, share insights into his mysteries and techniques, and raise public awareness of his significance.
Patricia Pinson is curator of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
22 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 23, 2019
I gave this book 5 stars before I read it, based simply on the fact that I have beautiful photographs of plenty of Anderson's works in one volume to peruse whenever I wish. Now that I've read it, the book still deserves the 5 stars for its insightful essays explaining his philosophy of art (and nature) and his significance as an artist, helping to put different aspects of his work into their proper historical perspective, something that's lacking. I especially enjoyed the last essay that focused on his writings, something I don't know as much about. As much as any artist one can think of, Anderson attempted and/or was proficient in just about every medium.
The list of exhibitions of his works ends on the year of 2003, so soon there may be a need for a revised, or supplemented, edition. I've seen four different exhibitions of Anderson's work starting in 2005; he was so prolific, there should be more to come.
The list of exhibitions of his works ends on the year of 2003, so soon there may be a need for a revised, or supplemented, edition. I've seen four different exhibitions of Anderson's work starting in 2005; he was so prolific, there should be more to come.
June 19, 2009
Putting the artist's writings, chronology of his amazing life and adventures together with a comprehensive large scale copies of his art work including the diversity of his life work is stunning. Despite the variation in his psychological well being and unique personality, he and his supportive family encouraged and let the creativity flow and his works and efforts eventually were and are much appreciated. Especially valuable, knowing that many of these works were destroyed in Katrina.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews