Warren H. Anderson Photograph Collection, 1950-1995(bulk 1970-1989) MS 444

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Warren H. Anderson Photograph Collection, 1950-1995(bulk 1970-1989) MS 444

Collection Number: MS 444


Creator: Anderson, Warren H.
Title: Warren H. Anderson Photograph Collection
Inclusive Dates: 1950-1995
Bulk Dates: (bulk 1970-1989)
Quantity: 4 Linear Feet
Abstract: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 at the University of Arizona and as an artist but it also includes family photographs and photographs from his travels. 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”.
Identification: Collection Number: MS 444
Language: English
Repository: University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/

Biographical Note

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.


Scope and Content

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.


Arrangement

This Collection is organized into 5 series.

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Access

None

Conditions Governing Use

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.


Controlled Access Terms

Geographic Name(s)
Lincoln Highway
Los Angeles (Calif.) – Buildings, structures, etc.
Tucson (Ariz.)
United States Highway 40
United States Highway 80

Subject(s)
Architecture – United States – Exhibitions
Architecture – United States – Pictorial works
Artists – United States – Exhibitions
Commercial art – United States - Exhibitions
Drawing – United States – Exhibitions
Photographers – United States - Exhibitions
Photography – United States – Exhibitions
Photography – United States – Pictorial works
Signs and signboards – United States – Pictorial works
Slides (Photography)
Street signs in art


Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Warren H. Anderson Photographic Collection (MS 444). Special Collections, Univeristy of Arizona Libraries.


Container List

Series I: Family,1950-1995
This series is arranged chronologically. It contains slides of family members in various settings.
boxfolder
11 Family 1950-1959
12 Family 1960-1969
13 Family 1970-1979
14 Family 1980-1989
15 Family 1990-1999
16 New York City 1969
17 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.
boxfolder
18 Arizona 1950-1959
19 Arizona 1976
110 Bisbee 1977
111 Montana 1973
112 El Paso 1979
113 Mississippi River 1963
boxfolder
21 San Francisco 1967
22 London 1963
23 Paris 1963
24 Mexico 1963, 1968, 1973
25-6 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
boxfolder
27 Pictorial to Pure 1979-1987
28 “Grace and Ethyl” 1979-1987
29 Sense of Place 1979-1987
boxfolder
31 Streamlined Moderne 1979-1987
32 Visual Blight 1979-1987
Subseries 2: Roads and Automobile
boxfolder
33 Roads/Main Street I 1979-1987
34 Main Street II 1979-1987
35 U.S. 80 I 1979-1987
36 U.S. 80 II 1979-1987
37 U.S. 80 III 1979-1987
38 U.S. 80 SW II 1979-1987
39 U.S. 40 1979-1987
310 Lincoln Highway 1979-1987
311 Cartifacts I 1979-1987
boxfolder
41 Cartifacts II 1979-1987
42 Cartifacts III 1979-1987
Subseries 3: Locations
boxfolder
43 Los Angeles I 1979-1987
44 Los Angeles II 1979-1987
45 Los Angeles III 1979-1987
46 Los Angeles IV 1979-1987
47 Los Angeles V 1979-1987
48 Los Angeles VI 1979-1987
49 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.
boxfolder
51 Background and Landscape
52 Architecture and Style
53 Pinups in Advertising
54 Nudes
55 Objects
56 Postcards
57 Gas Pumps and Globes
58 Automotive
59-10 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
boxfolder
61 Drawings, 1950-1989
62 Gas Pumps and Globes 1970-1989
63 Cars 1970-1989
64 Signs 1970-1989
65 Drawings, 1990-1995
Subseries 2: Various Art,undated
boxfolder
66 Pre 1960 undated
67 Boxed Assemblages undated
68-9 Negatives undated
Subseries 3: Vanishing Roadside America,
boxfolder
610 Vanishing Roadside America 1981
Subseries 4: Exhibits,1979-1989
boxfolder
611 Exhibits 1970-1979
612 Exhibits 1980-1989
Subseries 5: Oversized Materials
box
7 Oversized Photographs undated
box
8 8mm Films 1967-1972
8 Negative strip 1967-1972