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James E. Allen (b. 1894, Louisiana, MO – d. 1964, Larchmont, NY) was an important American printmaker famous for his etchings and lithographs that documented the heroic worker and the American industry of the 1930s. He was born in Louisiana, MO, and raised in Montana, but left home in 1911 to study painting and drawing at the Art Institute of Chicago. Soon after, he moved to New York where he took classes at the Art Students’ League, the Grand Central School of Art, and the Hans Hoffman School. Ever the perfectionist, Allen studied illustration with Harvey Dunn and etching with Joseph Pennell and William Auerbach-Levy. He also worked with sculptor Naum M. Los to improve his sense of 3-dimensional form, and spent almost seven years experimenting with copper and acid before allowing his prints to be exhibited.
With the advent of World War I, Allen was an established illustrator, working as a staff artist for Doubleday-Page Publishing Company. He also produced illustrations for publications such as Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post, but left when the war broke out to volunteer his services as a fighter pilot. In 1925 he moved to Paris where he met Howard Cook. The two artists shared a studio and began to experiment with a variety of printmaking techniques. Allen created his first etching during this time. Allen systematically absorbed the teachings of his “graphic heroes” Kasimir Malevich and Paul Cezanne. He admired the work of the Cubists and George Rouault, but he continued to search for economy of line and careful orchestration of tone in his own work. Unlike many artists of the time, Allen always worked directly from the model, executing exhaustive life-size charcoal studies for all of his prints.
During The Great Depression, Allen returned to New York, working consistently in the field of commercial art. His etchings and lithographs began to receive widespread academic and critical acclaim around 1932 when his etching “The Builders” garnered both a Shaw Prize from New York’s Salmagundi Club and a Henry B. Shope Award from the Society of American Etchers. A year later, “Brazilian Builders” took a Charles M. Lea Award at the Philadelphia Print Club Exhibition (at the same exhibition Howard Cook, George Burr, and Ernest Roth all received an “Honorable Mention” for their submissions). Allen also began exhibiting his work in galleries during the 1930s, including at Kennedy and Company and the Grand Central Art Gallery. He later exhibited and acted as a juror for exhibitions at the Society of American Etchers.
Currently, Allen's work is included in Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s, a group exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art focused on artwork of the 1930s. He has also been included in solo and group exhibitions at the British Museum, London, UK; Heckscher Museum of Art, NY; Norman Rockwell Museum, MA; Terra Museum of American Art; and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden, TX, among others.
Allen’s work is included in numerous private and public collections, among them the British Museum, UK; Cleveland Art Museum, OH; Columbus Museum of Art, OH; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Metropolitan Museum, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. and Terra Museum of American Art, IL, among others.
Mary Ryan Gallery published a monograph with an introduction by David Kiehl in conjunction with a major solo exhibition of Allen’s prints in 1984.
With the advent of World War I, Allen was an established illustrator, working as a staff artist for Doubleday-Page Publishing Company. He also produced illustrations for publications such as Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post, but left when the war broke out to volunteer his services as a fighter pilot. In 1925 he moved to Paris where he met Howard Cook. The two artists shared a studio and began to experiment with a variety of printmaking techniques. Allen created his first etching during this time. Allen systematically absorbed the teachings of his “graphic heroes” Kasimir Malevich and Paul Cezanne. He admired the work of the Cubists and George Rouault, but he continued to search for economy of line and careful orchestration of tone in his own work. Unlike many artists of the time, Allen always worked directly from the model, executing exhaustive life-size charcoal studies for all of his prints.
During The Great Depression, Allen returned to New York, working consistently in the field of commercial art. His etchings and lithographs began to receive widespread academic and critical acclaim around 1932 when his etching “The Builders” garnered both a Shaw Prize from New York’s Salmagundi Club and a Henry B. Shope Award from the Society of American Etchers. A year later, “Brazilian Builders” took a Charles M. Lea Award at the Philadelphia Print Club Exhibition (at the same exhibition Howard Cook, George Burr, and Ernest Roth all received an “Honorable Mention” for their submissions). Allen also began exhibiting his work in galleries during the 1930s, including at Kennedy and Company and the Grand Central Art Gallery. He later exhibited and acted as a juror for exhibitions at the Society of American Etchers.
Currently, Allen's work is included in Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s, a group exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art focused on artwork of the 1930s. He has also been included in solo and group exhibitions at the British Museum, London, UK; Heckscher Museum of Art, NY; Norman Rockwell Museum, MA; Terra Museum of American Art; and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden, TX, among others.
Allen’s work is included in numerous private and public collections, among them the British Museum, UK; Cleveland Art Museum, OH; Columbus Museum of Art, OH; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Metropolitan Museum, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C. and Terra Museum of American Art, IL, among others.
Mary Ryan Gallery published a monograph with an introduction by David Kiehl in conjunction with a major solo exhibition of Allen’s prints in 1984.