Originally appearing at: Voices of New Orleans
Artist Walter Anderson was born in New Orleans in 1903. His family eventually moved to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and founded Shearwater Pottery. Walter decorated the pottery but also painted murals and made other drawings of area wildlife throughout his life. He is most well known now for his watercolors of Horn Island, 12 miles off the coast. There is a museum in Ocean Springs showcasing Walter’s art, and an exhibition of his work was shown in the Smithsonian in 2003. But as author Hester Bass explains on the opening page of The Secret World of Walter Anderson, “He may be the most famous American artist you’ve never heard of.”
Anderson is a very unusual subject for a picture book. Bass stretches out here to 48 pages so she has plenty of space to tell the story of the man and his art. This is very much a title for older middle-grade or young-adult readers as Anderson is a complicated subject and reclusive man who loved his family but apparently could not live with them. His art was the most dominant part of his life, and so Bass explains to readers what that meant and most significantly, what he accomplished on Horn Island.
With the beautiful understated illustrations from E.B. Lewis to accompany the text, The Secret World of Walter Anderson is an inside look at a man who was dedicated to studying and drawing nature. Anderson went to great extremes to capture wildlife in its environment, even weathering a hurricane on Horn Island. Most interestingly, however, he also harbored a secret; a small locked room in his cottage that everyone was forbidden to enter. It was only after his death in 1965 that his wife looked inside. What she was found was art everywhere — the walls, the ceiling, every inch of the small room was decorated as a “Gulf Coast day.” It was stunning, and as Bass explains in her detailed author’s note at the book’s conclusion, the room was moved to the Walter Anderson Museum of Art (where Bass’s husband is former director). Visitors can fully immerse themselves in his vision there and appreciate his utterly unique view.
When Katrina hit, Walter Anderson’s art, his family’s homes and Shearwater Pottery were not immune. Sixteen buildings at the Anderson compound were damaged or destroyed by the storm, and the pottery showroom and workrooms were “gutted.” The museum, further inland, was safe, but the family’s heritage — the actual physical places where the Andersons lived and created their arts and crafts — suffered great destruction. This is a cultural loss to Mississippi and to a larger extent, the folk art history of America. Yet it is through titles like this one, through opportunities to learn just who Walter Anderson was and what he created, that we can continue to celebrate his gifts. Bass has done a first-rate job of capturing why we need to know about this man and further, how his struggles did not prevent him from making many beautiful things.
Walter Anderson was an important American artist. Making sure that young people know about him is a very worthwhile endeavor. Bass’s extensive note and bibliography at the conclusion show it to be a serious work. Homeschoolers in particular should seek this one out. But don’t view it as a source of study alone — The Secret World of Walter Anderson is just fascinating reading. He was a most interesting man and a compelling example of someone who moved outside the mainstream while making a powerful contribution to American art. He saw a corner of the world, loved it and made sure that everyone who came after him would know it as well. Kudos to Hester Bass for both recognizing how valuable his story is for young people and then conveying it in such a lively and engaging manner. My son wants to go on a visit to Mississippi to see Anderson’s cottage room — I can’t think of a higher compliment to Bass and illustrator Lewis than that.
