Description

Wilbert Warren (Masood Ali Warren), Walking Away, and Waiting, dry marker, 1973. Unsigned from the artist's sketchbook. Fine, spontaneous renderings, on cream wove paper, in excellent condition. Sheet size 12 x 8 3/4 inches. Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist's archive, New York City. ABOUT THE ARTIST Masood Ali Wilbert Warren (1907-1995) was an African-American 2nd generation Harlem Renaissance painter and sculptor known primarily for his bronze busts of high-profile entertainers, celebrities, and politicians. He attended the Art Students League in New York in the 1930s and participated in the WPA artists program. Warren earned a Bachelor of Arts from New York University in 1939 and a Master of Fine Arts from Temple University in 1961. He served in the United States Army as a staff artist in the Special Services and the Quartermaster Corps from 1941 to 1950 and in the United States Air Force during the Korean War as a combat artist (1953-1955). Warren exhibited at the National Academy of Design, the American Watercolor Society, and the National Arts Club. He is listed in the 2003 Artist's Bluebook and the 1999 Who Was Who in American Art, and h is work is represented in the publication 'New York City WPA Art: Then 1934-1943 and Now 1960-1977', published by NYC WPA Artists Inc., New York, 1977. Warren's work is held in the Syracuse University Libraries, the Richard Allen Museum in Philadelphia, and the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of African American Arts at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Items in the Syracuse University Libraries collection include Harlem life sketches, studies of animals, and professional letters from Charles Rangel, Percy Sutton, Robert Kennedy, and Ed Sullivan among others. The artist's papers at Yale University are described as follows: The Masood Ali Wilbert Warren Papers include 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 examples of his artwork, 1941-1965, and a small group of collected material.