James Edmund Allen
American, 1894 - 1964Untitled - Oil Worker, 1937
Not on view
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions14 1/16 × 19 3/16 in. (35.7 × 48.7 cm)
Image: 11 1/16 × 12 13/16 in. (28.1 × 32.5 cm)
Museum purchase, 2004.30
In 1937 James Edmund Allen was commissioned to produce twelve lithographs for the United States Pipe and Foundry Company. This image shows a man at work in an idealized manner. With a glowing aura around his shoulders and body, he looks relaxed, not demonstrating any exertion or effort. His figure, with muscular arms and rigid body, dominates the landscape. The oil pipe and machinery around him, however, seem to be an alien presence in this natural environment.
Allen was born in 1894 in Louisiana, Missouri, and shortly thereafter moved to Mill Creek, Montana. There he would begin to develop his skills as an artist, first as an illustrator portraying laborers in America. At the onset of World War I, Allen joined the U.S. Armed Forces, which took him to Belgium and Germany. Upon return from Europe, he worked as an illustrator and artist, living with fellow artists in the Interlaken Colony near Asbury Park, New York. Allen enjoyed commercial success during the 1930s illustrating for magazines, notably Collier's and Good Housekeeping.
