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Born in 1925 in Moline, Illinois, Anderson received a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Illinois University in 1950. That same year he married his wife Audrey; they were married for 53 years until she died in 2003. Together they had three children, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild. In 1951, he obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of Iowa and ten years later he received a Ph.D. from Stanford University in art education. From 1956 until 1986 Anderson was a Professor of Art and founder of the Department of Art Education at the University of Arizona. During this time he developed and taught a class called Environmental Aesthetics, a critical analysis and interpretation of visual forms in the everyday, man-made environment. In 1981 Anderson published a book, Vanishing Roadside America, in which his art documented the fading roadside grandeur that he witnessed on his trips across the country.
Anderson’s assemblages, photo collages and richly detailed drawings chronicle the vanishing American roadside as seen in the remains of gas pumps and globes, automobiles and tourist-related signage. He painstakingly crafted his prismacolor drawings in the manner of vintage high chroma linen textured postcards. His work has been widely exhibited from Washington D.C. to California and has been included in exhibitions at the El Paso Museum of Art, the Phoenix Art Museum, the University of Arizona, the University of New Mexico, the San Diego Automotive Museum, the Yuma Fine Arts Center, the Tempe Arts Center and the Museum of Neon Art in Los Angeles. His work is in the permanent collections of several museums including the University of Arizona Museum of Art.
Presented more as “dignified relics” than cultural oddities, Anderson’s works became nostalgic remembrances by the sheer selection of the images, not the manner in which they are articulated. In the spirit of the first generation Photo-Realists, Anderson made no attempt to idealize what he drew, rendering his signs in all their dilapidated glory. Rich in detail, he highlighted gas station pumps, smiling cowboys, “end of the trail” Indians, neon-outlined bathing beauties and saguaro cacti from roadside Americana.
Warren H. Anderson passed away in August, 2005 at the age of 80.
Photographs, 1950-1995 (bulk 1970-1989). This collection is comprised of the photographs of Warren H. Anderson. The bulk of the material relates to his dual careers as a professor of art education and as an artist. Anderson founded the Department of Art Education at the University of Arizona and in 1979 he developed a course called Environmental Aesthetics which he taught for almost a decade. The collection includes the slides presented in that class and also includes some accompanying typed and handwritten notes and class handouts. As an artist, Warren Anderson was primarily known for his realistic prismacolor drawings and these are represented here along with drawings from the book he published in 1981, Vanishing Roadside America. The collection also includes many family photographs and photographs from his travels across the United States and overseas. The collection consists primarily of slides but also included are print photographs, negatives, 8 mm films, printed notes and class handouts, and articles. It also contains several large photographs, some mounted, and an original photo montage, “Travel on Gravel with Ethyl”. A framed drawing, “Dos Cabezas with Homeward Gaze”, hangs in the Special Collections Department.
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It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Warren H. Anderson Photographic Collection (MS 444). Special Collections, Univeristy of Arizona Libraries.
Series I: Family,1950-1995 | |||||||||||
This series is arranged chronologically. It contains slides of family members in various settings. | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
1 | 1 | Family 1950-1959 | |||||||||
1 | 2 | Family 1960-1969 | |||||||||
1 | 3 | Family 1970-1979 | |||||||||
1 | 4 | Family 1980-1989 | |||||||||
1 | 5 | Family 1990-1999 | |||||||||
1 | 6 | New York City 1969 | |||||||||
1 | 7 | Anniversaries 1976-1995 |
Series II: Travels,1963-1979 | |||||||||||
This series is arranged in rough chronological order. It contains slides taken on Warren Anderson’s various travels across the United States and overseas. | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
1 | 8 | Arizona 1950-1959 | |||||||||
1 | 9 | Arizona 1976 | |||||||||
1 | 10 | Bisbee 1977 | |||||||||
1 | 11 | Montana 1973 | |||||||||
1 | 12 | El Paso 1979 | |||||||||
1 | 13 | Mississippi River 1963 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
2 | 1 | San Francisco 1967 | |||||||||
2 | 2 | London 1963 | |||||||||
2 | 3 | Paris 1963 | |||||||||
2 | 4 | Mexico 1963, 1968, 1973 | |||||||||
2 | 5-6 | Stockholm 1971-1977 |
Series III: Art 434 – Environmental Aesthetics Course,1979-1987 | |||||||||||
This series is subdivided by broad theme and then arranged by class lecture. It contains slides, printed notes, class handouts and articles. | |||||||||||
Subseries 1: Art and style | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
2 | 7 | Pictorial to Pure 1979-1987 | |||||||||
2 | 8 | “Grace and Ethyl” 1979-1987 | |||||||||
2 | 9 | Sense of Place 1979-1987 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
3 | 1 | Streamlined Moderne 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 2 | Visual Blight 1979-1987 | |||||||||
Subseries 2: Roads and Automobile | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
3 | 3 | Roads/Main Street I 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 4 | Main Street II 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 5 | U.S. 80 I 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 6 | U.S. 80 II 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 7 | U.S. 80 III 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 8 | U.S. 80 SW II 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 9 | U.S. 40 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 10 | Lincoln Highway 1979-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 11 | Cartifacts I 1979-1987 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
4 | 1 | Cartifacts II 1979-1987 | |||||||||
4 | 2 | Cartifacts III 1979-1987 | |||||||||
Subseries 3: Locations | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
4 | 3 | Los Angeles I 1979-1987 | |||||||||
4 | 4 | Los Angeles II 1979-1987 | |||||||||
4 | 5 | Los Angeles III 1979-1987 | |||||||||
4 | 6 | Los Angeles IV 1979-1987 | |||||||||
4 | 7 | Los Angeles V 1979-1987 | |||||||||
4 | 8 | Los Angeles VI 1979-1987 | |||||||||
4 | 9 | Historic Tucson 1979-1987 |
Series IV: Source Materials,1950-1995 | |||||||||||
This series contains slides of images used in and used as sources of inspiration for Warren Anderson’s boxed assemblages and drawings. | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
5 | 1 | Background and Landscape | |||||||||
5 | 2 | Architecture and Style | |||||||||
5 | 3 | Pinups in Advertising | |||||||||
5 | 4 | Nudes | |||||||||
5 | 5 | Objects | |||||||||
5 | 6 | Postcards | |||||||||
5 | 7 | Gas Pumps and Globes | |||||||||
5 | 8 | Automotive | |||||||||
5 | 9-10 | Signs |
Series V: Artwork,1950-1995 | |||||||||||
This series contains artwork by Warren Anderson. It is divided into five subseries. The first is arranged chronologically and contains drawings by Anderson. The drawings from 1970-1989 are further subdivided by subject. The second subseries contains various other art and is arranged by type. The third subseries contains slides of drawings published in the book Vanishing Roadside America by Warren H. Anderson, University of Arizona Press, 1981. They are arranged in the order that they appear in the book. The fourth subseries is arranged chronologically and contains slides and photographs of exhibits in which Warren Anderson’s work is shown. The fifth subseries contains large photographic prints, mounted photographs, and an original photo montage, “Travel on Gravel with Ethyl”. | |||||||||||
Subseries 1: Drawings,1950-1995 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
6 | 1 | Drawings, 1950-1989 | |||||||||
6 | 2 | Gas Pumps and Globes 1970-1989 | |||||||||
6 | 3 | Cars 1970-1989 | |||||||||
6 | 4 | Signs 1970-1989 | |||||||||
6 | 5 | Drawings, 1990-1995 | |||||||||
Subseries 2: Various Art,undated | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
6 | 6 | Pre 1960 undated | |||||||||
6 | 7 | Boxed Assemblages undated | |||||||||
6 | 8-9 | Negatives undated | |||||||||
Subseries 3: Vanishing Roadside America, | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
6 | 10 | Vanishing Roadside America 1981 | |||||||||
Subseries 4: Exhibits,1979-1989 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
6 | 11 | Exhibits 1970-1979 | |||||||||
6 | 12 | Exhibits 1980-1989 | |||||||||
Subseries 5: Oversized Materials | |||||||||||
box | |||||||||||
7 | Oversized Photographs undated | ||||||||||
box | |||||||||||
8 | 8mm Films 1967-1972 | ||||||||||
8 | Negative strip 1967-1972 |