1965 Walter Anderson Watercolor
GUEST:
I brought a Walter Anderson watercolor. He is from Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He lived and painted there.
APPRAISER:
What we have here is a very good example of one of his watercolors. It has one of his favorite subjects, which is the pelican. He's included a lot of the pencil drawing that he used in laying out the design, and so you see a lot of pencil work, which is very intriguing to collectors. He was born around 1903 in New Orleans, and spent most of his life in Mississippi, except for a stint in Philadelphia, where he studied at the Pennsylvania Academy. And then, of course, he comes back to Mississippi, and he, he actually starts out with prints. He made linoleum wood block prints on a very large scale, larger than anyone else was doing at the time. But he's really best known as being a painter and muralist, and he worked both in oil and watercolor. Now, he was a bit eccentric. He was somewhat reclusive, very much like George Ohr, the potter. Wanted to be isolated from society, and loved the barrier islands, to the extent that he called himself "the islander." And of course, the piece is signed here in the lower right with his monogram. And I believe on the reverse, there is an inscription, is that right?
GUEST:
Right, yes, it has the date and that it was done on Horn Island.
APPRAISER:
And it was done in 1965, I think?
GUEST:
Yeah. Five, I think. (chuckling) I can't remember.
APPRAISER:
And that was about, that was the year he died, I think.
GUEST:
Yes, it was one of his last watercolors.
APPRAISER:
His work is somewhat rare today. He was prolific, but you were telling me a story about what happened to, to his work as a result of a hurricane.
GUEST:
Yes, the family had the watercolors-- and pottery, too, I'm not sure-- stored in a vault.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
GUEST:
But, unfortunately, Katrina smashed in the vault and, and...
APPRAISER:
And ruined and destroyed.
GUEST:
And ruined a lot of things, yes.
APPRAISER:
Right. I believe both of his brothers were potters, and they had the Shearwater Pottery. Is that correct?
GUEST:
That's right, yeah.
APPRAISER:
And so there were paintings stored at that location.
GUEST:
Yes. This was done on typing paper.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And there were many, he'd done many of them. And we looked through them and bought this one at Shearwater Pottery.
APPRAISER:
And what year was that?
GUEST:
1974.
APPRAISER:
How much did you pay?
GUEST:
$500.
APPRAISER:
A watercolor from the same date-- a different bird, not the pelican-- sold in December at a Southern auction for about $11,000.
GUEST:
Good.
APPRAISER:
This particular piece, because it does feature his favorite bird, it's in great condition, and it has wonderful history, coming directly from the pottery, I would judge, for insurance purposes, would probably be worth at least $15,000.
GUEST:
Oh, that's great.
APPRAISER:
And possibly a bit more.
GUEST:
Good.
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