Bookmark this page or copy and paste URL to Email message Warren H. Anderson Photograph Collection, 1950-1995(bulk 1970-1989) MS 444Collection Number: MS 444 Biographical NoteBorn 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 ContentPhotographs, 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. ArrangementThis Collection is organized into 5 series.Series I: Family, 1950-1990 Series II: Travels, 1963-1979 Series III: Art 434 – Environmental Aesthetics Course, 1979-1987 Series IV: Source Materials, 1950-1995 Series V: Artwork, 1950-1995 RestrictionsConditions 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 TermsGeographic 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 InformationPreferred Citation
Warren H. Anderson Photographic Collection (MS 444). Special Collections, Univeristy of Arizona Libraries. Container List
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