Hamlet and Beyond - Walter Anderson Museum of Art

Literature
Through
the Eyes of
Walter Anderson
February 3 - May 13, 2001

Here are some samples of the Walter Anderson's art from Hamlet & Beyond

The Chinese Nightingale, Oldfields c. 1945. watercolor by Walter Anderson	The Magic Carpet, Oldfields, c. 1945, watercolor by Walter Anderson	Robinson: The Pleasant History of an Unusual Cat, c. 1945, linoleum block print by Walter Anderson
Dragon, Shearwater, c. 1952, Shearwater Ceramic figurine by Walter Anderson	King and Woman on Horse, c. 1952, Shearwater Ceramic figurine by Walter Anderson	Sinbad and the Roc, c. 1945, linoleum block print by Walter Anderson
Hamlet and Ophelia, c. 1950, drawing by Walter Anderson	Hamlet and the King, c. 1950, drawing by Walter Anderson

An Introduction to the Exhibition
by Mary Anderson Pickard, daughter of Walter Anderson
Hamlet and Beyond reveals the extraordinary role of books in the life work of Walter Anderson. Literature inspired more than a third of his art in drawings, watercolors, woodcarving, pottery and linoleum block prints.

Ships from Viking tales, dragons, witches and giants of folklore, stories of the New Orleans street prompted many of the drawings of his childhood. Early woodcarvings feature fierce pirates, staunch heroes and all the stories of the saints.

Greek and Roman myths and epics of adventure were subjects for the decoration of Shearwater pots. A planter carries a bas-relief of a battle from The Illiad. Bacchante dancers (a priestess or follower of the God Bacchus) writhe around a vase. Androcles and the Lion embrace on utilitarian bookends. The story of the past, American Indians and early white settlers and their lives inspired his WPA murals.

Stories from his own full life experience, from his voracious consuming of books, or from his exuberant imagination fed the fountain of his creativity no less freely than the images from the natural world for which he is best known. Anderson’s passions for literature and the natural world are meshed and interwoven in his art. Concisely and poetically he wrote:

“The form (nature) is here;
The stories are told.
Realize it and them like a succession of flowers opening.”

Like Joseph Campbell, Anderson must have believed it the duty of the artist to retell the myths of universal meaning for modern man. In the 1940s he created a series of linoleum block prints meant for the decoration of homes. The hand printed and individually painted panels were offered to the public at one dollar a foot. They are visions of the Gulf Coast world and stories from the vast archetypal store of folklore, myth and fairytale.

An alphabet, rich in decorative and literary allusions, and blocks of classic nursery rhymes were made for Anderson’s own children as was Robinson. This Pleasant History of an Unusual Cat has a poignancy born of the artist’s experience of a year in New York as an impoverished outsider, a student at the art institute, longing to be a part of the glamorous warmth, music and excitement of New York art world.

The ninety-nine drawings from Shakespeare’s Hamlet are a tiny fraction of thousands of illustrative drawings that Anderson began in the 1940s at Oldfields. He had joined his wife and children there after a prolonged period of mental illness. Perhaps these drawings were born of the inactivity of convalescence, the comparative isolation of Oldfields, and the restless longings of an adventurous spirit confined by demands of family living and a lack of financial means, but certainly they represent a fascinating facet of Anderson’s gifts.

Never needing more than a few hours sleep, Anderson would read at night at the dining room table. As he turned pages with his left hand, his right hand flew, setting down the images his fertile mind produced in response to the words he read. His wife was unwilling that they be called illustrations. These illustrative drawings were translations of the written word into the language of Anderson’s vision. These were “realizations” in the most immediate sense; direct communication between left (verbal) and right (visual) brain.

The Hamlet drawings are late examples of the genre perhaps created in Ocean Springs after Anderson returned to live alone at his Shearwater cottage. They have the sure dexterity of long experience, seem to have been drawn with fountain pen rather than the earlier dip pen, and incorporate in their content – in wall hangings and decorative panels – many of the patterns from the mid and late 1940s block prints, birds and fish and repetitive borders.

Anderson called himself a dramatic painter. Fascinated by the theatre and by the power of the theatrical – its real drama as well as its exaggerations – the artist sees Hamlet as the play it is. Deliberately he stages the scenes, changing sets appropriately and revels in the dramatic gesture. Sometimes the drawings seem to indicate a sense of humor that detracts from the tragedy of the story. The Hamlet character has inspired in actors of the finest reputation the very “strutting and fretting” which Shakespeare deplored and Anderson’s Hamlet sometimes looks like a “poor player”

Various Anderson enthusiasms, his interest in natural phenomena attendant on human events, in costume, in fencing, in the mystique and manners of the medieval court, are reflected in these witty, objective drawings.
Anderson was no stranger to those human experiences of sorrow, loss, betrayal, injustice, doubt and indecision, which drive poor Hamlet to his doom. A subjective identification with Hamlet could have been an emotional trap, leaving the artist enmeshed in “the pale cast of thought” in which “conscience does make cowards of us all”. Instead, the artist maintains the objective stance of audience beyond the proscenium. His Hamlet is an actor playing a part.

Dr. David Berry, the Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, on Shakespeare’s Hamlet:

“Revenge plays were the Rambo thrillers of 1601 England, but Shakespeare wanted to do more than please the bloodlusters. He wanted to please the highbrows and art lovers, too; thus, the bodies don’t start stacking up till the very last. In a play about sham, the ultimate sham may be the play itself.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Inspiration quenches the thirst of a creative mind in need of expression. For Walter Anderson the world of literature provided a flowing spring of fables, myths, legends and tragedies that was seemingly endless. The fruits of Walter Anderson’s literary inspiration now come to life in the exhibition, Hamlet and Beyond, providing children and adults with an amazing variety of rich images to inspire and delight.

A heartfelt thanks to Mary Anderson Pickard, daughter of Walter Anderson, and Joan Gilley, Representative of the Anderson Family, for serving as guest curators for the Hamlet and Beyond exhibition. Their extraordinary knowledge of the Anderson material and literature in general provided nourishment for the project.

Hats off to Dr. David Berry, for his input and partnership in exploring the realm of Shakespeare and Walter Anderson.

Thanks and congratulations to the University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art Staff on their partnership and exhibition of the Hamlet drawings by Walter Anderson.

A special thanks to the terrific WAMA Staff for their commitment and teamwork, and specifically to Paul Drummond, Registrar; Bette Cloar, Education Coordinator; and Judy Thurman, Creative Services Coordinator, for their valuable contributions to the exhibition.

Clayton Bass, Executive Director

Generous thanks to the following exhibition sponsors
for providing vital support throughout the year.

Mrs. Arthemise Blossman
Donald & Anne Bradburn
Chem First Foundation
Family of Walter Anderson
Richard & Rosemary Furr
Mississippi Arts Commission

The following books contain examples of works from the
exhibition and are available in the Museum Book Store

- The Magic Carpet and other tales, retold by Ellen Douglas with illustrations by Walter Anderson
- Robinson: The Pleasant History of an Unusual Cat, written and illustrated by Walter Anderson
- Walter Anderson for Children, an art activity book

HAMLET & BEYOND CALENDAR

February 13 ~ 10 am
Gallery Walk
The public is invited to a free lecture led by guest curators
Mary Anderson Pickard and Joan Gilley, Curator for the Family of
Walter Anderson, to discover the anecdotes behind the art.

May 5 ~ 10 am
ArtForms : Fairytales, Myths and Legends
A storytelling performance set among works in the exhibition by Hester Bass of Ocean Springs. This lively performance will bring the literary works featured in Walter Anderson’s art to life. Regular museum admission will be charged for this event. Members admitted free.

April 9-13 ~ 9 am - 4 pm
The Robinson Theatrical Spring Camp
The Robinson Theatrical Spring Camp will be held the week of Spring break. This new Camp, for children ages 6 to 12, focuses on Walter Anderson’s story for children, Robinson: The Pleasant History of an Unusual Cat and the current Hamlet and Beyond exhibition for a variety of activities.

A performance of Robinson will bring the week’s activities to an exciting close at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, April 13. Costs for the Spring Camp are $150 non-members, $140 members with a 10% discount for a second child.

April 24 ~ 10 am
ArtTalks
Dr. David Berry, the Charles W. Moorman Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, will offer a presentation on Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a bogus revenge play, on Tuesday, April 24 at 10 a.m. Tickets are $3 for museum members and $5 for non-members.

For more information, contact the
Education Department at 872-3164, ext. 111