Walter Inglis Anderson

Major Works

Walter Anderson

• An Alphabet
• Robinson:  The Pleasant History of an Unusual Cat
• The Horn Island Logs of Walter Inglis Anderson (Mississippi Art Series)
• Birds: An Introductory Essay (Mary Anderson Pickard, contributor)
• The Magic Carpet and Other Tales by Ellen Douglas, Walter Anderson (Illustrator)
• On the Gulf (Author and Artist Series)  Elizabeth Spencer, Walter Anderson (Illustrator) Published 1991
• A Symphony of Animals  by Walter Andersen, Walter Anderson (Illustrator)
• The Living Dock by Jack Rudloe and Illustrated by Walter Inglis Anderson,  Published 1988, 2003
• Walter Anderson’s Illustrations of Epic and Voyage by Walter Inglis Anderson
• A Symphony of Animals by Walter Andersen, Walter Anderson (Illustrator)

Biography of Walter Inglis Anderson

by Chris Jones (SHS)

Walter Inglis Anderson was born on September 29, 1903, in New Orleans, Louisiana, to George Walter Anderson and Annette McConnell Anderson. His father was a grain merchant and his mother was an artist. (Logs11-12) He was the second of three brothers, the eldest being Peter and the youngest, Mac.

He attended St. John’s School in Manilus, New York, from the ages of eight to fourteen  when his schooling was interrupted by World War I. After that he went to Manual Training School in New Orleans, Louisiana (Logs 12). He then went on to the Parson’s Institute in New York.

He finished  his education at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. (WAMA) While he was at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, he won the Packard Award for winning an animal drawing contest against the entire student body (Logs 2). He later won a scholarship to study abroad and went to France. While he was in France, he was particularly impressed with the cave paintings, which noticeably influenced his drawing style.

He went back to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to live. There he met Agnes Grinstead and married her. Together they had four children: Mary, Billy, Leif, and John.

Anderson worked for his brother Peter at Shearwater pottery in Ocean Springs. During the Depression he worked for the WPA painting murals. Then, in 1937, he was diagnosed a schizophrenic and spent three years in and out of hospitals (WAMA).

Every time he was placed in a mental institution, he escaped. When he was in Whitfield, he knotted up his bed sheets and climbed out, leaving drawings of birds on the walls (Logs 12).  Then he moved to Gautier, Mississippi, to live on his wife’s father’s estate, “Oldfields,” with his family.

He left his family to go live in a cottage on the Shearwater pottery compound, and his family moved nearby. He spent the next eighteen  years traveling back and forth from Horn Island. During this time he created most of his existing art work. He painted pictures of everything in nature that he possibly could.

Anderson died on November 30, 1965. Most of his art work was destroyed because he had no regard for his work.  He simply didn’t care about his work after he was through with it. A lot of his work that survived was just because he was a bad housekeeper and didn’t clean up after himself (WAMA).

In 1989, Anderson was posthumously awarded the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award. The Walter Anderson Museum of Art opened in Ocean Springs in 1991.

In the photo below, John Anderson, youngest son of Walter Anderson, surveys the destroyed property and art work. Photo by Paul F. Jacobs

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina damaged or destroyed much of Walter Anderson’s work which was housed in the concrete vault on the Anderson’s property in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. A group of professors and students from Mississippi State University (and others) volunteered their time and facilities to help save and preserve Anderson’s work.

In 2005 Anderson’s daughter Leif Anderson published a book entitled Dancing with My Father.

Walter Anderson was inducted into the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience (The MAX) Hall of Fame in 2017.

Reviews

Review of the Horn Island Logs of Walter Inglis Anderson

By Chris Jones (SHS)

The book The Horn Island Logs Of Walter Inglis Anderson contains the thoughts and experiences of Walter Anderson during his frequent stays on Horn Island.  It is sort of a way of getting into his head during the most known of part of his life.  Through the book you can see a transformation in his attitude towards his role on Horn Island.  In the beginning he sort of considers himself an outsider and an observer; but as the book progresses,  you can tell that he considers himself part of nature, that he belongs there.

This book shows the special world of Walter Anderson. The influences and inspirations that helped shape his life are mentioned in the biography of him in the book.   The book also shows his amazing devotion to art.  All he did while he was on the island was draw pictures and keep his log.

SEE ALSO– A Review of Agnes Grinstead Anderson’s Approaching the Magic Hour: Memories of Walter Anderson by Jeff Durst (SHS) and his biography of Walter Anderson here.

Related Websites

• Anderson Museum provides slide show of works and life of Walter Anderson.
• Realizations Shop shows many works and designs by Anderson.
• A Painter’s Hurricanes by Christopher Maurer is essay for NPR after Katrina.
• The Art of Walter Inglis Anderson: Centennial Exhibit at Smithsonian Honors Gulf Coast Genius by Liane Hansen. Page also has a link to a gallery slide show of the work of Walter Anderson.
• Information about book Form and Fantasy: The Block Prints of Walter Anderson. Edited by Patricia Pinson, Edited by Mary Anderson Pickard and published by University Press of Mississippi.
• Brief information about the documentary film Walter Anderson: Realizations of an Artist by Wolf and Riley.
• Information about exhibit entitled Visual Harmony: Melody, Words and Birds of Walter Anderson in 2004 in Resource Library, an online publication of Traditional Fine Arts Organization.
• Works by Anderson in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
• The Old Capitol Museum offers two trunks focusing on his work: one for elementary schools and one for high schools.

Bibliography

• WAMA Walter Anderson Museum of Art.   Available at http://www.walterandersonmuseum.org/
• Anderson, Walter Inglis. edited by Sugg, Redding S., Jr. The Horn Island Logs of Walter Inglis Anderson Rev. Ed. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, c 1985.