Ancel Edward Nunn (1928-1999) was an acclaimed artist known for his super-realism
style and acrylic in egg tempera technique. Born on April 27, 1928, in Seymour,
Texas, Nunn grew up in several West Texas communities. His early art education
included studying at the Dallas Art Institute at age 15 and attending summer
workshops under artists such as Dong Kingman and Alexandre Hogue. Nunn served in the
United States Army Reserve with intermittent periods of active duty from 1947 until
his honorable discharge with the rank of Major in 1969. He did little painting in
the military, until 1963 when he met his future wife Reneta, who supported his
decision to become a professional artist. Between 1964 and 1967, Nunn searched for a
personal style and philosophy of painting, during which time he destroyed many of
the paintings he produced. In 1969 Nunn moved to Palestine, Texas, where he set up a
studio called The Foundry and continued painting. Nunn moved again in 1980 to his
new Morningtown Studio east of Palestine, where he began to create lithographs in
addition to paintings. Exhibitions of Nunn’s works have been held at the Tyler
Museum of Art, Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Museum of East Texas, and the University
of Texas at Tyler. His work was published in
Correspondence, artworks, notes, financial documents, legal documents, photographs, audiovisual material, and printed material document Ancel Nunn’s artwork, business operations, and personal life. The bulk of the papers are Ancel Nunn’s, but a small subgroup of Reneta Nunn’s papers (4 inches) is included.
The Personal series (1945-2002, 1 linear foot) details Nunn’s personal history, philosophy, and thoughts about art and life, and includes materials associated with his memorial. Executed artworks files (1969-2008, undated, 7 linear feet) include ownership records of created artworks, exhibition records, correspondence, and photographs. Patron files (1968-2008, 4 linear feet) include business records of patron holdings, correspondence, and printed material.
Correspondence (1957-2008) is divided into two subseries, General (1967-2008, 2 linear feet), arranged chronologically, and Selected (1957, 1972-2008, 1 linear foot), arranged alphabetically. Selected work files (1968-2008, 4 linear feet) document Nunn’s working relationships and collaborations, and contain correspondence, original artwork, manuscripts, photographs, audiovisual material, and printed material. Notable work files include Samuel Woolvin, A.C. Greene, Billy Porterfield, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
Exhibition files (1971-2008, 1.5 linear feet) document Nunn’s artwork exhibitions. Log books (1975-2000, 2 linear feet) are Nunn’s daily log of activities. Art series includes original artwork created and acquired by Ancel Nunn. Other series include Awards (1977-1978, 3 inches), Financial (1968-2002, .5 linear feet), Guest books (1971-2001, .4 linear feet), Newspaper clippings (1947-2007, 4 inches), Magazines (1971-2005, 4 inches), Miscellaneous records (1995-2000, undated, 3 inches), and Photographs (1968-2001, 1 linear foot).
The Executed artworks series is arranged by Nunn’s own system, where the first two numbers indicate the year the artwork was created and last two digits indicate the artwork number that year. This series also contained several empty folders, which were not retained. The folder titles are 6501 Shacks And Mailboxes, 6609 Bench #2, 6610 Small Landscape, 6611 Childhood Memory, 6928 House With Stone Wall, 6930 View From The Upper Window, 7024 Old Homeplace, 7025 Wagon Barn, 7142 Fence Line, 7244 Study of House, 7245 Study of Willet, 7246 Shirey Barn – Watercolor Study, and 7328 Light Study of Baskets Bucket.
Ancel Nunn’s original file system was maintained as much as possible. One exception
is that his
This collection is open for research use.
A portion of these papers is stored remotely. Advance notice required for retrieval. Contact repository for retrieval.
Ancel E. Nunn Papers, 1943-2008, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.