James Edmund Allen (February 23, 1894 – September 9, 1964) was an American illustrator, printmaker, and painter. His works include a significant body of lithographs and etchings showing steelworkers, pipe workers, and other aspects of American industrial life, carefully composed compositions depicting "the daily heroism of America's industrial workers." Allen was also a prolific illustrator who, working mostly in oil, contributed numerous illustrations to stories in popular magazines of the day. He has been misidentified in many references as James Edward Allen.
Early life
When Allen was three his family moved to a rural area outside Anaconda, Montana. Known as "Edd" to his family and friends, he and his younger brother, Elmer "Lee" Allen (1896–1971), loved the rugged outdoor life in Montana and the values of persistence and self-reliance it instilled. They learned horse training from the Blackfoot Indians, earning the nickname "Horse Whisperers". It was also during this time that James began developing his skills as an artist, concentrating on outdoor scenes portraying men at work. This style, portraying the muscle of America, became the hallmark of his future success as an artist.
In 1913 he moved to Chicago to study painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. There he became a friend of future illustrator J. Allen St. John. By 1915 he was studio assistant to his art teacher, Alexis Jean Fournier. 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.
Career
James Allen began his over 30-year career as illustrator with the People's Popular Monthly in 1913. In 1916 James E. Allen moved to Interlaken, New Jersey, living among other artists in the well-known Interlaken Colony near Asbury Park, New York. He was soon selling freelance illustrations to magazines and book publishers in nearby Philadelphia and New York City. By the end of his career, his work appeared in some 20 popular magazines such as American Boy, Blue Book (magazine), Collier's, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Nash's and Pall Mall Magazine, The Red Cross Magazine, and Saturday Evening Post. As a staff artist for Doubleday, Page and Company, he illustrated a 17-volume edition of the works of Guy de Maupassant, and later works by Gopal Mukerji and Emma-Lindsay Squier. He also illustrated the popular Sinclair Dinosaur Book for the Sinclair Refining Company.
In 1917 James and Elmer joined the United States Armed Forces and served with the American Expeditionary Forces in Germany where James became a 2nd Lieutenant and flier. In 1919 he resumed his career as a freelance illustrator.
James married Grace Louise Parmele in Chicago on January 8, 1919. The newlyweds moved to Frasmere Avenue in Spring Lake, New Jersey, also near Asbury Park. From this location the artist commuted to New York City and Philadelphia to sell freelance illustrations to publishers in both cities. By 1924 his greater market was in NYC, so he rented an art studio at 939 Eighth Avenue, on West 56th Street. His studio was one block from the Art Students League, where he attended classes taught by Joseph Pennell.
In May of 1925 Allen traveled to Paris and rented a studio from artist John Storrs, which he shared with Howard Cook. There he experimented with various artistic media, making lithographs and etchings for the first 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. His first etching, Dragon Court, from 1925, is a depiction of the Parisian Cour du Dragon courtyard.
Allen and Grace returned to New York City in November 1925 aboard the SS America, not, as asserted by some sources, due to the economic realities of the Great Depression some years later. He resumed work in commercial illustration and continued to hone his skills as a printmaker under Joseph Pennell and William Auerbach-Levy. During this period he also studied with Arshile Gorky and Harvey Dunn at the Grand Central School of Art as well as with sculptor Naum M. Los to improve his sense of 3-dimensional form.
While some sources claim a relationship with the Work Projects Administration (WPA), this appears not to be true. David W. Keihl writes "James E. Allen valued the worth of hard work and personal ingenuity for survival. He did not participate in the WPA programmes".