News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 5/28/03   Click on image for publication quality photo THE ART OF WALTER ANDERSON – Southeastern Louisiana University’s Clark Hall Gallery will host an exhibit of works by the legendary late artist Walter Anderson June 1-Aug. 18. Anderson created approximately 300 linoleum blocks, such as this goose, in the years from 1945 through 1949. He printed the artworks on ordinary wallpaper and sold them cheaply to make decorative art available to all. SLU’S CLARK HALL GALLERY TO HOST WORKS OF WALTER ANDERSON       HAMMOND -- Southeastern Louisiana University’s Clark Hall Gallery will host an exhibit of the distinctive and timeless works of the late Walter Anderson, whose depictions of the plants, animals, and people of the Gulf Coast have placed him among the finest American painters of the 20th century.         The exhibit is scheduled from June 1 until August 18. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays.        Anderson spent most of his life exploring the wonders of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, absorbed in the haunting ambiance of the water, marshes, and woods. His "oneness with nature" and his expression of that unity have made Anderson a legendary figure on the Gulf Coast.        Anderson was born in 1903 in New Orleans and died in 1965. He studied at the Parson's School of Design and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he won several awards, including the prestigious Cresson Award for travel in Europe. He traveled extensively in Europe and Asia before adopting a reclusive existence, spending much of his time on his beloved Horn Island.        Anderson's output was staggering. He worked in oil, watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil. He sculpted in wood, crafted furniture, carved and decorated pottery, and cut large linoleum blocks for print making. He also produced stained glass and hooked rugs. For Anderson, art was not a product but a process, a means of experiencing the world. His drawing, prints, and watercolors celebrated the natural rhythms of the weather, the seasons, the sea, and the cycles of plants, flowers, and animals. His abiding interest in nature combined with his strong sense of design and color, his avid intellectual curiosity, and his bold imagination have made his works distinctive and timeless.       Anderson created nearly 300 linoleum blocks in the years from 1945 through 1949. He printed these on the back of ordinary wallpaper and offered them for sale at one dollar per foot, intending to make available good decorative art that anyone could afford. The original blocks are now safeguarded by the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, a gift from the family of Walter Anderson.        Recognition was meager during Walter Anderson's lifetime. But, since his death in 1965, his art has been the subject of numerous books, films, and articles. Major retrospective exhibits at the Pennsylvania Academy of Arts, the Brooks Museum in Memphis, and the New Orleans Museum of Art have received tremendous critical acclaim.       In 1991, the Walter Anderson Museum of Art was established to archive and exhibit Anderson's monumental achievements. It also serves as a center from which Anderson's genius emanates to an ever-broadening circle of artists, art-lovers, scholars, scientists, naturalists, and environmentalists.        For additional information, contact Southeastern Visual Arts, 985-549-2193. Return to News Releases