Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Warneke, Heinz (Heinrich), 1895-1983.
Title:	Heinz Warneke Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1950-1963
Quantity:	1.5 linear ft.
Abstract:	Papers of the American sculptor, specializing in animals. Born and trained in Germany. Collection includes correspondence, exhibition catalogs, photographs of his work, and clippings.
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Heinz Warneke was born in Germany in 1895 and studied at the Berlin Kunstgewerbeschule. During World War I, he was a member of the German Monuments Commission before emigrating to New York in 1923. He spent five years (1927-1932) in Paris, creating a sculptural style that combined social realism, art-deco wit and primitivism, and upon his return to the United States undertook a number of commissions for the WPA. He became known for his animal figures, receiving steady commissions on into the 1940s and 1950s including an elephant group for the Philadelphia Zoo and the Nittany Lion (1942) for the campus of Pennsylvania State University. In the 1960s he carved a granite sculpture, Prodigal Son, for the National Cathedral in addition to doing the tympanum (a representation of the Last Supper) and clerestory decoration.

For nearly thirty years, Warneke shared his knowledge and skill with aspiring young sculptors and art students. From 1940 to 1942, he taught sculpture at the Warneke School of Art; and from 1943 to 1968 he was head of the sculpture department at the Corcoran School of Art while also serving as professor of sculpture at George Washington University.

Warneke received a number of awards and recognitions over the course of his career, including the Logan Medal at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1930; Widener Gold Medal, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1935; First Prize, St. Louis Artists' Guild, 1925; First Prize and Bronze Medal of the Society of Washington Artists, 1943. His work is in the permanent collections of such institutions as the Art Institute of Chicago, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Department of the Interior, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania State College, Addison Gallery of American Art, the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC. He was a member of the National Sculpture Society, the National Academy of Design, and the Salon des Tuileries.

Warneke died in Connecticut in 1983. In 1994 the University of Delaware Press published a biography of Warneke by Mary Mullen Cunningham, entitled Heinz Warneke (189551983): A Sculptor First and Last.

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

This collection consists of Subject files, Exhibition materials, Photographs of Mr. Warneke's works, and one item of Published material. Subject files comprises some biographical information and correspondence concerned with The Elephant, newspaper of the Fairmount Park Art Association. Exhibition materials contains exhibit catalogs, clippings, a few photographs and some material concerned with the Section of Fine Arts, Federal Works Agency. Photographs consists of photographs of Warneke's work, while Published material contains a single item, "Chil Aronson," published in 1932.

Return to top

Arrangement of the Collection

All items are arranged alphabetically within the four series.

Return to top

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Return to top

Subject Headings

Persons

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Return to top

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Heinz Warneke Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Finding Aid Information

Created by: -
Date: unknown
Revision history: 2 Apr 1973 - name index (-); 18 Apr 2007 - converted to EAD (AMCon); 20 Apr 2016 - corrections to Box 1 (MRC)

Return to top

Inventory

	Subject files
Box 1		Biographical material
		Bosses and Corbels
Box 1			Pictures, Washington Cathedral (4 folders)
Box 1			Prints and explanation of Washington Cathedral
		The Elephant
Box 1			Clippings about
Box 1			Correspondence 1959-1963
Box 1			Photographs and negatives
Box 1			Plans

	Exhibitions
		Exhibition Catalogs
Box 1			General
Box 1			Churches
Box 1		Newspaper clippings
Box 1		Photographs
Box 1		Section of Fine Arts, Federal Works Agency

	Photographs
Box 2		Heinz Warneke
Box 2		Miscellaneous (2 folders)
Box 2		Animals
Box 2		Bathing Girl on Beach
Box 2		(The Boxer)
Box 2		(Christ Crucified)
Box 2		Daphne-Allegra and Penseriosa
Box 2		Eagles, Social Security Building
Box 2		Elephants
Box 3		Elevator Murals
Box 3		Equilibrium
Box 3		Eve Repentant
Box 3		Facade, El Paso Bank
Box 3		The First Born or The Holy Family
Box 3		Girl Arranging Hair
Box 3		(Girl with Fawn)
Box 3		Girl with Lamb and Man with Sheaf of Wheat (bookends)
Box 3		Immigrant
Box 3		Lewis and Clark Expedition
Box 3		May Valor Live Forever
Box 3		Meditation
Box 3		Men Tripping over Boulder
Box 3		Sketch-Negro Figures
Box 3		Peasant, Mother and Babe
Box 3		Penn State Lion
Box 3		Savage Madonna
Box 3		Starved
Box 3		Student Work
Box 3		Sun-bather
Box 3		Skunk Cabbage
Box 3		Through the Loam Upwards
Box 3		Tired Laborer
Box 3		Torso
Box 3		Water Carrier
Box 3		War Memorial, Lyme, Connecticut
Box 3		Weary Child
Oversize 1		Miscellaneous oversize photos

	Published materials
Box 3		"Chil Aronson" 1932

Return to top