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‘Elusive’ Walter Anderson Exhibit of Rare, Iconic Works Lures Visitors to The MAX

Hurricane Betsy lashed Horn Island in a fury in 1965, but artist Walter Anderson stayed on Mississippi’s barrier island through the powerful storm, riding it out. Retreat from the winds, rain and rising sea waters drove him from his camp to ever higher ground, dragging his skiff behind him on a tether as he waded through water that surged as high as his chest.

His post-storm writings read like the aftermath of a glorious battle that left its frayed, battered victim not angry or despairing, but in reverent awe. “Beautiful and sad,” he described the beach. “The Great Leveler has been over it, and it is all nearly on water level, which seems to have been the object. It is a magnificent wide stretch of sand attacked on one side by the retreated waves … protected by the far away battle line of the trees—with what was left of the war-stricken sand dunes between.” 

imageVisuals in the boat room at The MAX explode in dynamic fashion, inspired by and tying into artwork by Walter Anderson (center panel). The touring exhibition showcases original iconic and rare works, and permanent, related exhibits at The MAX pay further homage to Anderson’s legacy. Photo by Sherry Lucas
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47465″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Boatroom2MAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
Visuals in the boat room at The MAX explode in dynamic fashion, inspired by and tying into artwork by Walter Anderson (center panel). The touring exhibition showcases original iconic and rare works, and permanent, related exhibits at The MAX pay further homage to Anderson’s legacy. Photo by Sherry Lucas

That is just one story of several that thread through the exhibition “The South’s Most Elusive Artist: Walter Inglis Anderson,” a show of 40 original works by the legendary Mississippi Gulf Coast artist now on display at Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, colloquially known as The MAX, in Meridian, Miss. 

“We are an institution designed to celebrate all things Mississippi arts and culture, and he is a key figure in the arts world,” MAX President and CEO Penny Kemp said. “It’s an important opportunity for people to see his work and understand him and what influenced him, and how special Mississippi was to him.”

The MAX is the third venue for the traveling exhibition, and its Meridian showing is enhanced by a robust slate of related fall programming featuring Mississippi artists, as well as the museum’s Hall of Fame and interactive exhibits showcasing the state’s abundant creative legacy, Anderson included. The exhibition remains on display in the MAX’s Fred and Sissie Wile Changing Exhibition Gallery through Nov. 23.

“The South’s Most Elusive Artist” is a touring version of the 2021-2022 exhibition that originated at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs and commemorated its 30th anniversary. The exhibit travels next to the Windgate Museum of Art in Coway, Ark., from Jan. 1 through March 3, 2025, and then to the South Arkansas Art Center in El Dorado, Ark., from May 19 through July 30, 2025, with additional bookings still possible.

imageBold colors and captivating lines capture nature at its most pure and vibrant in the artwork of Walter Anderson, who was a naturalist as well as an artist working in watercolor, pen and ink, murals, pottery design, linoleum block printing and more. Photo by Sherry Lucas
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47466″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/exhibitartwork_cred-Sherry-Lucas-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
Bold colors and captivating lines capture nature at its most pure and vibrant in the artwork of Walter Anderson, who was a naturalist as well as an artist working in watercolor, pen and ink, murals, pottery design, linoleum block printing and more. Photo by Sherry Lucas

“Elusive” in the show’s title cannot mean “difficult to find,” for Anderson’s art and story have filled exhibitions and books aplenty, as well as documentary films, in the decades since his 1965 death from lung cancer, just months after Hurricane Betsy. A retrospective of his art was shown in 2003 at the Smithsonian Institution, and he has been tagged “America’s Van Gogh,” a fitting tribute to the vivid colors, lines and patterns that make his art leap to life.

In this instance, “elusive” more aptly describes a mysterious figure hard to pin down and tough to define. Eccentric, solitary and sometimes secretive, Anderson was a prodigious creator of art across a swath of media—printmaking, watercolor, pen and ink, designs, and decoration for ceramics at his family’s Shearwater Pottery and more. He was a naturalist, too, capturing the Gulf Coast plant and animal life in all its vibrant wonder, beauty and personality.

Rarely seen watercolors, block prints, ceramics and sketches, alongside some of the artist’s most iconic works, offer intriguing glimpses into Anderson’s life, his creative process and his drive to connect with nature through art. 

“It is a very good selection of beloved pieces and ones people haven’t seen before,” Walter Anderson Museum of Art Manager and Curatorial Assistant Meghan Lyman said. “The still life of peaches (1953) is really beautiful but very different from the ‘Horn Island Triptych’ (1960). … You can see the progression of his style. It becomes more defined.” 

imageThe vessel and paintbrushes on display at The MAX give viewers a glimpse of Anderson’s tools and an example of the pottery produced at his family’s studio, Shearwater. Photo by Sherry Lucas
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/paintbrushesMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=240%2C300&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/paintbrushesMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=600%2C750&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/paintbrushesMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=600%2C750&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47468″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/paintbrushesMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?w=600&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/paintbrushesMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=240%2C300&ssl=1 240w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/paintbrushesMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=400%2C500&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/paintbrushesMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px”>
The vessel and paintbrushes on display at The MAX give viewers a glimpse of Anderson’s tools and an example of the pottery produced at his family’s studio, Shearwater. Photo by Sherry Lucas

Pared down to core pieces, the touring exhibition brings a chance to hone in details of individual works so that visitors may marvel at the deftness with which Anderson captured his surroundings. Nature sounds in the gallery enhance that connection to the coastal environment.

Highly detailed illustrations of a sparrow and kingfisher from 1934 were part of an early project—made for a book on Southeastern birds—and may remind viewers more of John James Audubon than Walter Anderson at first glimpse. The process of specimens killed prior to his study and painting bothered young Anderson to the point he could not finish the project.

A linoleum block print (1945), its colors vivid against the tan back side of discontinued wallpaper, enchants, both for the lush lines to get lost in and for the economy of its creation. Sold for $1 a foot, it reflects Anderson’s belief everyone should be able to afford fine art.

Pen and ink drawings circa 1942 lay bare the building blocks of his art. After Anderson was hospitalized for mental illness at various times between 1937 and 1940, he used seven motifs from Adolfo Best-Mauguard’s “A Method for Creative Design” to reteach himself to draw. Follow the circles, spirals, wavy lines and more up close in his works, then step back to see how just a few lines and shapes become a crab, a pair of cats or birds in flight in the woods.

imageThe MAX’s church gallery upstairs will be screening documentaries about Walter Anderson during the run of the exhibition “The South’s Most Elusive Artist” in the downstairs changing exhibition gallery. The touring exhibition is on display through Nov. 23. Photo by Sherry Lucas
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47469″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/churchgalleryMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
The MAX’s church gallery upstairs will be screening documentaries about Walter Anderson during the run of the exhibition “The South’s Most Elusive Artist” in the downstairs changing exhibition gallery. The touring exhibition is on display through Nov. 23. Photo by Sherry Lucas

Particularly captivating are Anderson’s animal watercolors, which put viewers squarely in the moment with the birds’ social buzz in “Redwings” (1960), the playful and ungainly “Frogs” floating with head and eyes above the water (1955) and the tiny, frightened owl in “Terror, the Little Devil” (1960).

A selection of ceramics—vessels, plates, pelican bookends, busts and seagull figurines—that Anderson designed and decorated and his brother Peter Anderson cast, set his distinctive curves, forms and colors in three-dimensional form, all the while telling the Gulf Coast’s story.

Visitors to The MAX can also experience the rest of the museum and its Hall of Fame rotunda. Anderson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in its inaugural 2017 class. “You see with fresh eyes, Walter Anderson’s presence in our interactive exhibits upstairs,” Kemp said. The boat room’s visual of Horn Island appears to become a painting with Anderson’s quote about his craving to create art. Around the corner, Anderson’s actual paintbrushes, pottery and more are part of a display about the influence of the land on artists. The museum’s church gallery hosts daily screenings of two documentaries about Anderson throughout the exhibition’s run.

“It gives you a whole new appreciation,” Kemp said. 

imageThe MAX President/CEO Penny Kemp points out details in an interactive display that provides insights on several Mississippi Gulf Coast artists, including Walter Anderson. Photo by Sherry Lucas
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button” src=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-47471″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?resize=400%2C267&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/KempMAX_cred-Sherry-Lucas-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
The MAX President/CEO Penny Kemp points out details in an interactive display that provides insights on several Mississippi Gulf Coast artists, including Walter Anderson. Photo by Sherry Lucas

Related fall programming continues at The Max, including the following:

On Thursdays during October, ceramicist Stephen Phillips will lead introduction to pottery classes that start at 5:30 p.m.

Shank & Maim will perform live music during the museum’s brown bag lunch on Oct. 17 at 11:30 a.m.

Angi Cooper will host a watercolor workshop on Nov. 2 at 10 a.m.

On Nov. 9, the museum will hold readings of the recently rereleased “Anderson’s Alice: Walter Anderson Illustrates Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Robinson: The Pleasant History of an Unusual Cat” children’s books at 10 a.m.

Robin Whitfield will lead a workshop on using earth colors on Nov. 16 at 9 a.m.

On Nov. 21, the museum will hold its Merry Night Market by Earth’s Bounty event starting at 5 p.m.

University of Southern Mississippi professor and sculpture Allen Chen will give a pottery demonstration on Nov. 23 at 10 a.m.

For more information on The MAX, visit msarts.org. Learn more about the Walter Anderson Museum and its namesake at walterandersonmuseum.org

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