Lost Murals: The Art of Reading
January 21, 2010 through May 15, 2010
Opening Reception – January 21 from 5-7:30pm
Gallery Walk with John Anderson– February 18 from 5-7pm

“My mother told me repeatedly that Daddy considered himself to be primarily a muralist,” says John G. Anderson, guest curator for The Lost Murals of Walter Inglis Anderson. In a passage of her memoir, Approaching the Magic Hour, Agnes Grinstead Anderson wrote about life with her husband Walter, called Bob by his family. In the 1940’s Walter and Sissy lived with her father in the Grinstead home in Gautier.

“The house at Oldfields had high ceilings with white plastered walls. Bob’s eyes lit up whenever he contemplated the murals that could adorn those walls. Ideas raced in his head. Daddy was adamant, declaring, ‘That crazy artist will never pollute the Oldfields walls!’”

Despite this seemingly final edict from his father-in-law, Anderson devised a plan to make these murals a reality. Upon the blank canvas of the home’s walls, he affixed large sheets of paper, which were covered with watercolors depicting a myriad of subjects. These subjects ranged from farm scenes of people working and playing, to New Orleans street scenes, to illustrations of angels inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost, as well as other literary interpretations and scenes of nature.

Lost Murals: The Art of Reading is the second in a series and showcases just a few of the mural panels done by Walter during the Oldfields years. Emphasized in this show is Walter’s love for literature.

For images and more information, please contact Douglas Myatt at 228.872.3164 or collection@walterandersonmuseum.org.