THE HEALING LINE:
In 1941, after several years of intermittent hospitalization, Walter Anderson joined his family at Oldfields, his wife’s family home in Gautier, MS. The thin, pale artist with shaking hands began to re-teach himself how to draw, exercising his skill with daily practice. He would often warm up his fingers by drawing a series of motifs in the upper right-hand corner of the paper: wavy line, zig zag, straight line, circle, spiral, half circle, and S-curve. Slowly and painstakingly his line developed, grew in confidence, then danced along the page recording movement and grace of the animals around him – especially the cats.
In 1941, after several years of intermittent hospitalization, Walter Anderson joined his family at Oldfields, his wife’s family home in Gautier, MS. The thin, pale artist with shaking hands began to re-teach himself how to draw, exercising his skill with daily practice. He would often warm up his fingers by drawing a series of motifs in the upper right-hand corner of the paper: wavy line, zig zag, straight line, circle, spiral, half circle, and S-curve. Slowly and painstakingly his line developed, grew in confidence, then danced along the page recording movement and grace of the animals around him – especially the cats.
In his illustrations of cats from the Oldfield’s period, Anderson’s line demonstrates the connection from the artist’s eye to the hand to the pen as he drew the cats living around him. Every line included by Anderson serves a purpose – outlining form, creating motion, and depicting the personality of the creatures with every stroke.
Cat, Tree, and Falling Leaves
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of Mary Anderson Pickard
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of Mary Anderson Pickard
Two Cats, or Cat Study
Walter Inglis Anderson
c. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
Walter Inglis Anderson
c. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
Three Kittens
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of Mary Anderson Pickard
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of Mary Anderson Pickard
Two Kittens and the Seven Motifs
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
This line drawing, although damaged in Hurricane Katrina, continues to demonstrate Walter Adnerson’s use of the seven motifs during his Oldfields period. The seven motifs were written about in Mexican theorist Adolfo Best-Maugard’s book, A Method for Creative Design. According to Best-Maugard, everything in nature could be depicted using the seven motifs. Anderson used these motifs to re-train his hand after his multiple hospitalizations in the years prior to Oldfields. In the upper right-hand corner of the page Anderson drew out the motifs before he began his drawing.
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
This line drawing, although damaged in Hurricane Katrina, continues to demonstrate Walter Adnerson’s use of the seven motifs during his Oldfields period. The seven motifs were written about in Mexican theorist Adolfo Best-Maugard’s book, A Method for Creative Design. According to Best-Maugard, everything in nature could be depicted using the seven motifs. Anderson used these motifs to re-train his hand after his multiple hospitalizations in the years prior to Oldfields. In the upper right-hand corner of the page Anderson drew out the motifs before he began his drawing.
Cat at Door before Storm
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of Mary Anderson Pickard
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of Mary Anderson Pickard
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Gift of the Family of Walter Anderson to the Museum
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Gift of the Family of Walter Anderson to the Museum
Cat Design
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pencil on Paper
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pencil on Paper
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
Three Cats
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
Study of a Cat
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
Walter Inglis Anderson
C. 1945
Pen and Ink
Courtesy of the Family of Walter Anderson
Although this image depicts five cats it is likely that Anderson is just depicting one with multiple sketches on the same page.