Mystical Landscapes
Watercolors by
Walter Anderson
September 10-November 12, 2006
Reception: Sunday, September 10, 2-4 p.m.

Mississippi watercolorist Walter Inglis Anderson is considered one of the most important American artists of the 20th century. This exhibition of 22 masterworks in watercolor on typing paper, Anderson’s chosen media, include paintings that were publicly exhibited for the first time shortly after Hurricane Katrina. Many of these stunning coastal images, the “Mystical Landscapes,” had spent half a century tucked away in storage. Aptly, these paintings display Walter Inglis Anderson’s awe for the beauty and power of nature—both its incredible creative and destructive potential. Included in the exhibition are five surviving images from Hurricane Katrina that display the storm’s effects on this unique American legacy. 

Immediately upon entering the Fortune Gallery, the viewer has the sense that he or she is in the presence of greatness. Indeed, Mystical Landscapes: The Art of Walter Anderson fills the space with imagery of the famed Mississippi artist's beloved Horn Island, but are these simply depictions of land? Hardly, and here's where it becomes mystical.
Anderson believed in an experience for which he searched every day of his life, for what he termed Realization, when he (man) and nature became one. It happened in the experience as the paintings reveal where the moment became mystical, but these representations of land are simply a product left behind from the all-important process.
Allow yourself to enter the landscape, but be forewarned you might find yourself chin-deep in water or, as he was notorious to do, getting dangerously close in efforts to experience wildlife in its environs pursuing life to be realized. Otherworldly was this experience, and perhaps his obsession with nature and the search for the 'mystical' is what would drive one to repeatedly row 12 miles each way to Horn Island, and tie himself to a tree to face Hurricane Betsy. In addition to the seventeen landscapes are five additional works revealing different stages of of damage sustained in Hurricane Katrina. Although Anderson did much large-scale work in murals, woodcarving and linoleum block prints, watercolor on typing paper remained his chosen media. It was portable, inexpensive and widely available. In addition, it was surprisingly durable and accepted a variety of media.
The beginnings of the exhibition we now see began in the early 1980s when Brent Funderburk, Professor of Art at Mississippi State University first saw the watercolors in a file folder with the artist's daughter Mary upon a visit to the family in Ocean Springs. In July of 2005, Funderburk and Bill Andrews, MSU Gallery Director chose the works intended for exhibition at MSU in September of 2005 to be jointly on view with additional ill-fated still-lifes damaged in Katrina. Mystical Landscapes enjoys only its second public exhibition after over 40 years spent tucked away; don't miss this important opportunity. This exhibition of Anderson's work will remain on view through November 12.