John Wilson papers
name: label: Creator
content: Wilson, John, 1922-2015
label: Interviewer
content: Trachtenberg, Alan
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston
label: Occupation
content: Sculptors -- Massachusetts -- Boston
label: Occupation
content: Educators -- Massachusetts -- Boston
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: African American artists
label: Topic
content: African American educators
label: Topic
content: African American painters
label: Topic
content: African American sculptors
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Lent for microfilming 1993 by John W. Wilson, except for the 1979 sound recording which he lent for copying.
creator: label: Creator
content: Wilson, John, 1922-2015
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: John Woodrow Wilson (1922-2015) was an African American painter, sculptor, illustrator, printmaker, and educator in Boston, Massachusetts. Wilson studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston under Ture Bengtz and Karl Zerbe, graduating in 1945. He lived in Paris through the MFA fellowship and studied with modern artist Fernand Leger. He then attended Tufts University, graduating in 1947. Wilson received a John Hay Whitney fellowship and lived in Mexico for five years with his wife, Julie Kowtich. After his return from Mexico in 1956, Wilson made artwork for Chicago labor unions and taught in New York City before returning to teach at Boston University in 1964. During his career, Wilson won competitions to execute statues of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the city of Buffalo, New York and for the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Microfilm reels
label: Extent
content: 1 Cassette (Sound recording, analog)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1939-1993
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.wilsjohn
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Microfilm reels
label: Type
content: Cassettes
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: 35mm microfilm reels 4876-4880 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
originalsloc: label: Existence and Location of Originals
content: Originals returned to John Woodrow Wilson after microfilming.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This microfilm collection of the papers of African American painter, sculptor, illustrator, printmaker, and educator John Woodrow Wilson contains biographical material such as autobiographical notes, school records, personal documents, and a bibliography; personal and business correspondence, undated and 1938-1993; files on the New York City Board of Education, 1959-1965, regarding his teaching; and project files, including Wilson's submission for the competition for a Frederick Douglass statue, Eternal Presence, Father and Child Reading, and Wilson's monuments and bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. Correspondents represented include the Albany Institute of History and Art, Atlanta University, Carnegie Institute, Ebony, David Porter of the G Place Gallery, the Institute of Modern Art, Alain Locke, Gloria May, the Museum of Modern Art, Frederick G. Rice, and Hale Woodruff. 

Also included in the collection are files on exhibitions; notebooks, 1958-1960; lesson plans, 1959, 1963; notes, writings, and lectures, circa 1945-1993; transcripts of interviews of Wilson and related correspondence, 1978-1987; legal material, 1978; financial records 1944-1991, including a notebook of sales and expenses 1945-1950; photographs, 1940-1990, of Wilson, his work, sculpture, and exhibition installations; a scrapbook, 1939-1967; artwork, including sketchbooks, 1970-1992, life studies completed as a student, 1939-1947, and miscellaneous art work, 1939-1992; and printed material, 1939-1993, including exhibition catalogs, illustrated books and book jackets, and ephemera. The collection also includes a copy of a sound recording of an interview of Wilson conducted by Alan Trachtenberg, circa 1979 (untranscribed).