Scope and Contents
The Masood Ali Wilbert Warren Papers includes sketchbooks, sketches, and drawings created by Warren, 1933-1988. It chiefly consists of approximately 4,450 sketches from life, including street portraits in Harlem, New York City, 1933-1940 and 1968-1988, and of military personnel, 1941-1943 and 1953-1956, as well as 74 drawings of military personnel and others from 1953 to 1956. The collection also includes photographs of Warren alone and with others as well as with examples of his artwork, 1941-1965, and a small group of collected material.
Dates
- 1933-1988
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Masood Ali Wilbert Warren Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Waiting for Godot Books on the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts & Letters Fund, 2006.
Purchased from William Reese Co. (Swann Galleries’, New York, sales, including: sale 2189, 8 Oct 2009, lot 26 and lot 27, on the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts & Letters Fund, 2009.
Purchased from William Reese Co. (Swann Galleries’, New York, sales, including: sale 2204, 2010 Feb 25, lot 137; sale 2293, 2011 Mar 10, lot 158, lot 159 and lot 160; sale 2408, 2016 March 31, lot 143) on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2009-2011
Purchased from William Reese Co. (Swann Galleries’, New York, sale 2342, 2014 March 27) on the Alfred Z. Baker, Jr. Fund, 2014.
Extent
22.67 Linear Feet (16 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The Masood Ali Wilbert Warren Papers includes sketchbooks, sketches, and drawings created by Warren, 1933-1988, as well as photographs and collected material.
Masood Ali Wilbert Warren (1907-1995)
Masood Ali Wilbert Warren was an African American artist. He was born in Notasulga, Alabama, of African and American Indian heritage. Warren attended the Art Students League in New York from 1932 to 1935 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in mural painting from New York University in 1939. He also served in the United States Army as a staff artist in the Special Services and the Quartermaster Corps during and after World War II, 1941-1950. After living briefly in Los Angeles, California, Warren was recalled into active service by the United States Air Force during the Korean War as a combat artist serving from 1953 to 1955. He returned to Los Angeles and then completed a Master of Fine Arts with a major in sculpture at Temple University in 1961. His work exhibited at the National Academy of Design and National Art Club.
Processing Information
This material is open for research. Early descriptions of the collection, 2006-2007, identified only seven sketchbooks with a collection title, "Masood Ali Wilbert Warren, Sketches of African American Women and Men." In 2020, accessions acquired since 2007 combined with the seven sketchbooks to form the " Masood Ali Wilbert Warren Papers."
- African American art
- African American artists
- African American soldiers -- Pictorial works
- African Americans in art
- Art -- United States
- Art, Black
- Artists, Black
- Blacks in art
- Drawings (visual works)
- Figures (representations)
- Harlem (New York, N.Y.) -- Pictorial works
- Korean War, 1950-1953 -- Pictorial works
- New York (N.Y.) -- Pictorial works
- Photographs
- Sketchbooks
- Sketches
- United States. Army -- Pictorial works
- World War, 1939-1945 -- United States -- Pictorial works
Source
- William Reese Co. (Bookseller)
- Waiting for Godot Books (Bookseller)
- Title
- Guide to the Masood Ali Wilbert Warren Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Matthew Daniel Mason
- Date
- December 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.