Library Exhibition Features Walter Anderson

Artwork by renowned artist, writer, and naturalist Walter Inglis Anderson is on exhibit at the J. D. Williams Library through January 2010. The 60-piece display, Walter Anderson and World Literature, is hosted by the Department of Archives and Special Collections on the library’s third floor.

Featuring line drawings, watercolors, and panels inspired by great works of literature such as Don Quixote, The Iliad, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, The Magic Carpet, and block prints from Anderson’s books An Alphabet and Robinson—created for his own children—the exhibition stretches along three walls.

“There are many artists who explored a story but few who fused with it,” said Patricia Pinson, former curator of exhibitions at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs. “The book to Anderson was a way of life, part of the quest to find realization and meaning. It was the distillation of the timeless epics that gave him the grasp of the significance of the moment. Great books and great art are about insight, and Anderson gives us insight into both.” A voracious reader, Anderson created nearly 10,000 pen-and-ink drawings to illustrate page after page of the books as he would read them.

“It’s exciting for the library to showcase this wonderful exhibit of work by Walter Anderson,” said Jennifer Ford, head of Archives and Special Collections. “His genius can be clearly seen, as well as his love for literature. We hope that our patrons will be able to get a glimpse into his world.”

While Anderson’s “world” stretched from his home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast to faraway places such as China and South America, he found solace in being alone, often immersed in the imaginary world of books. “Daddy was essentially on a quest—he was pursuing the Holy Grail,” said Anderson’s son John Anderson, curator of the library exhibition.

Sponsored in conjunction with the 16th annual Oxford Conference for the Book, which was dedicated to Walter Anderson, the exhibition was the focus of the conference’s opening session March 26. Following its close at the library, plans call for the exhibit to travel to other libraries, cultural centers, and schools for years to come.

“This exhibit might be little explosions if allowed to be shown in schools where children can look at the work and say, ‘Wait a minute, I see something another way,’” John Anderson said.