Frederic / Frederick Tanqueray Anderson (Tennessee/Arkansas, 1846-1926) watercolor painting of a steamboat on the Mississippi River with smaller vessels--a tug boat and a barge with dinghy floating to its side--at left. The masts of four large sailing vessels are faintly visible on the distant horizon. Signed "Frederic T. Anderson," lower right. Housed and double-matted under plexiglass in a giltwood frame. Sight: 5 1/2" h x 10 1/2" W. Frame: 10 1/16" H x 15 11/16" W. Biography (adapted from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas): Categorized as a Romantic American landscape artist, Anderson is known for his steamboat and landscape paintings. Anderson’s paintings were inspired by his boyhood memories of traveling down the Mississippi River with his grandfather on steamboats to New Orleans, Louisiana. According to a Memphis Commercial Appeal article dated May 20, 1945, many regarded Anderson as the leading river scenes painter in America. Frederic(k) T. Anderson was born on July 1, 1846, on his grandfather’s Arkansas River plantation near New Gascony (Jefferson County). Anderson lived in a variety of places during his youth, including New Orleans. In 1870, Anderson moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and began his career as a bookkeeper in the Cotton Exchange. Shortly after his arrival in Memphis, he showcased his painting talent. The Memphis Daily Appeal published an article on August 2, 1874, that described an Anderson painting displayed on the wall of the Cotton Exchange titled 'Rapidly Ascending the Mississippi,' which depicts the steamboat Phlallin’ charging up the Mississippi River at full speed. In 1878, Anderson married Lula Bruce, a daughter of the prominent Memphian Noble S. Bruce. Though Anderson continued to work in the cotton industry after his marriage, the desire to further his artistic studies took him to Europe in 1889, where he reportedly studied under Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. Returning to Memphis after approximately five years of study abroad, he contributed works to Harper’s Weekly, Leslie’s, and other illustrated magazines of that time. Unfortunately for Anderson, he painted during a time when Pablo Picasso and other avant-garde artists were gaining acclaim. As a consequence of pursuing an outdated landscape style reminiscent of mid-nineteenth century Hudson River School painters such as Thomas Cole or the Realist Winslow Homer, Anderson failed to gain significant renown beyond Arkansas and Tennessee--with one exception. President Theodore Roosevelt had traveled to Memphis in 1907 to attend the Waterways Convention and was presented with one of Anderson’s paintings, which the president greatly admired. Retrospectives of Anderson's work have been held at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, and the Art & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas.

Good condition, with toning to paper and mat burn to edges of image. Frame with abrasions to upper edge including 2" L split.