Florence Wysinger Allen (March 14, 1913 – June 1, 1997) was an African American artists' model for more than 30 years. She was called "San Francisco's best loved artists' model".

Personal life

Florence Wysinger Allen was born in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California in 1913. Her father, Marion, was the son of California pioneer

Edmond Edward Wysinger Edmond Edward Wysinger (1816–1891) was an African American pioneer in California, arriving around October 1849 at the beginning of the California Gold Rush. California Supreme Court case On January 29, 1890, in the Visalia, California court ...

.1920 United States Federal Census. Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Her mother, née Moore, was a concert pianist. Allen attended Fremont High School and became active in the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

arts community and became a

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

activist and newspaper columnist. Her social circle included the likes of

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

Paul Newman Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

and

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

. When not modeling she worked as a hostess at North Beach restaurants such as Washington Square Bar and Grill. In 1987 she was struck by a truck while crossing a street near Fisherman's Wharf, breaking both her legs and restricting her mobility. She died in El Sobrante, California on June 1, 1997.

Artists' model

Allen began modelling in 1933, motivated by monetary need, and worked for painters such as

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

, Gertrude Murphy and

Wayne Thiebaud Morton Wayne Thiebaud ( ; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his la ...

. She also modeled for

art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-seco ...

classes at the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

University of California-Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, the

California College of Arts and Crafts California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the mo ...

and

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

. Allen preferred to model in the nude acknowledging that successful modeling was strenuous, involving discipline and thought. As she stated, "You can't think with your clothes on." Modeling in the nude also earned her more money; she was paid 75 cents an hour versus 50 cents an hour for clothed modeling. In 1945 she led the founding of the San Francisco Models' Guild, an extant entity currently known as the Bay Area Models' Guild. It was influential for improving the pay for artists models. In 1965 the

University of California-San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...

held an art exhibition titled "Florence Allen Herself" which showcased Allen's thirty year modelling career. In 1987 she became the Model Coordinator and teacher of the Model Certification Workshop at the

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in San ...

References

External links

Bay Area Models Guild
which was started by Allen
Flo Allen at California College of Arts and Crafts Founders' Day, 1967

Flo Allen's obituary from the SFGate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Florence Wysinger 1913 births 1997 deaths African-American female models American female models African-American models American artists' models California College of the Arts People from Austin, Texas People from Oakland, California El Sobrante Art in the San Francisco Bay Area 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century American people