Frederick Warren Allen (1888–1961) was an American sculptor of the
Boston School. One of the most prominent sculptors in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
during the early 20th century and a master teacher at the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachus ...
, Allen had a career in the arts that spanned more than 50 years.
Early years
Allen was born May 5, 1888 in
North Attleboro, Massachusetts
North Attleborough, alternatively spelled North Attleboro, is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 30,834 at the 2020 United States Census.
The villages of Attleboro Falls and North Attleborough Center are ...
, the son of Frank West Allen, a jewelry maker, and Esther Belcher Allen. Named after his grandfather, Frederick Deane Allen, he was fifth of six children and was expected to go into the family business. However, he was an enterprising young man and worked in the jewelry sweatshops in the summers, learning various techniques that he used later in modeling and casting sculpture instead of making jewelry.
Art education
Upon his graduation from
Attleboro High School
Attleboro High School is a public high school located in Attleboro, Massachusetts. The school is located at 1 Blue Pride Way. The school has an approximate student enrollment of 1,750 students in grades 9–12. The school's mascot is the Bombardier ...
in 1907, Frederick W. Allen presented a
bas-relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
to his alma mater, the first work he had cast. He studied for a year at the
Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
in Providence under Manatt and Hazelton and, having determined to be a sculptor, enrolled at the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is the art school of Tufts University, a private research university in Boston, Massachus ...
in Boston where he attended
Bela Lyon Pratt
Bela Lyon Pratt (December 11, 1867 – May 18, 1917) was an American sculptor from Connecticut.
Life
Pratt was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to Sarah (Whittlesey) and George Pratt, a Yale-educated lawyer. His maternal grandfather, Oramel Whittle ...
's modeling classes for three-and-a-half years, winning many prizes and scholarships for the excellence of his work.
In Paris
Allen fell in love with the lovely Agnes H. Horner and, on the day after her graduation from Attleboro High School as valedictorian, they married and departed for Paris. He studied and sculpted for the summer at the
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...
under
Paul Landowski
Paul Maximilien Landowski (1 June 1875 – 31 March 1961) was a French monument sculptor of Polish descent. His best-known work is '' Christ the Redeemer'' in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Biography
Landowski was born in Paris, France, of a Polish re ...
and the
Académie Colarossi
The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...
under
Paul Wayland Bartlett
Paul Wayland Bartlett (January 24, 1865 – September 20, 1925) was an American sculptor working in the Beaux-Arts tradition of heroic realism.
Life
Bartlett was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Truman Howe Bartlett, an art critic a ...
. While in Paris he took the opportunity to spend time at the
Luxembourg Museum
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
where he studied
Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
and other contemporary sculptors and spent hours sketching from the rich offerings in the galleries of the city.
Teaching
When he returned to Boston in the fall of 1913, he began teaching at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts as assistant instructor, a position Bela Pratt helped him secure. He continued teaching until his retirement in 1954, becoming the gifted head of the department in 1929. He was known affectionately by his students as "F.W." and earned the respected title of Emeritus, the first awarded by the school. Among his students was
Mary Moore.
Personal and family life
During the time he was sculpting and teaching, he raised and educated a family of five children while surviving the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and two World Wars. He supported his studio on Tavern Road a block from the museum, a colonial home for his family in
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the conflu ...
, a cottage on
North Haven Island
North Haven is a town and island in Knox County, Maine, United States, in Penobscot Bay. The town is both a year-round island community and a prominent summer colony. The population was 417 at the 2020 census. North Haven is accessible by thri ...
in Maine and a country cabin and later a home in
Rumney, New Hampshire
Rumney is a New England town, town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,498 at the 2020 census. The town is located at the southern edge of the White Mountain National Forest.
History ...
where he retired after selling his studio in 1954. He had said he wouldn't mind if death came and tapped him on the shoulder there.
Summers in North Haven, Maine
Early in his career Pratt had encouraged the Allens to buy the cottage next to his own home on the rocky shores of a protected harbor on North Haven Island overlooking the Camden Hills. They purchased the property in 1914 and became part of a colony of Boston artists now known as the Bartlett's Harbor Artists' Colony. Allen,
Frank Benson,
Bela Pratt
Bela Lyon Pratt (December 11, 1867 – May 18, 1917) was an American sculptor from Connecticut.
Life
Pratt was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to Sarah (Whittlesey) and George Pratt, a Yale-educated lawyer. His maternal grandfather, Oramel Whittle ...
, and
Beatrice Van Ness
Beatrice Whitney Van Ness (1888–1981) was an American painter.
Born Beatrice Whitney in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Van Ness grew up in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. She entered the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1905 where she studied wi ...
and their families, friends and students, all spent many productive and happy summers in this inspiring spot. The island's natural beauty combined with the little colony's isolated location inspired their creative pursuits away from the pressures of their normal working lives.
Sculpture career
Bela Pratt, his mentor and friend, also provided Allen with his first major commission, to sculpt in
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
one of three bas-reliefs to be installed on the Museum of Fine Art's new Evans Wing On
the Fenway
Fenway, commonly referred to as The Fenway, is a mostly one-way, one- to three-lane parkway that runs along the southern and eastern edges of the Back Bay Fens in the Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, in the east-central part of the U.S. ...
façade of the building. This brought immediate attention from the leaders of the Boston art community and was the beginning of a very productive sculpting period for him between 1913 and 1920. He exhibited during that time at the
Museum of Fine Arts, the Guild of Boston Artists, of which he was a founding member, the
Boston Art Club
The Boston Art Club, Boston, Massachusetts, serves to help its members, as well as non-members, to access the world of fine art. It currently has more than 250 members.
History
The Boston Art Club was first conceived in Boston in 1854 with the co ...
and the St. Botolph Club and frequented the other meeting place for artists, the
Tavern Club. He was also a regular exhibitor at the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[MOMA
Moma may refer to:
People
* Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist
* Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician
* Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher
Places
; Ang ...](_blank)
in 1933 and a regular at his hometown museum, the
Concord Art Association
Concord Art Association is a membership-based arts center in Concord, Massachusetts that conducts exhibits, lectures, classes, and tours. It was founded in 1917 by Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts and moved into its permanent location, the former John ...
.
Allen crafted the small and popular Beaux-Arts style bronzes, medical models for
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
using the "lost wax" process, memorial tablets, portrait busts, portrait reliefs, "imaginative" pieces, garden fountains and life and death masques, as well as large memorials and architectural installations. His best-known large work is the pediment and statues atop the
Supreme Courthouse in Manhattan. His sculptures are included in the collections of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the
Metropolitan Museum
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, the
Farnsworth Art Museum
The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, United States, is an art museum that specializes in American art. Its permanent collection includes works by such artists as Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Sully, Thomas Eakins, Eastman Johnson, Fitz Henry Lan ...
in Rockland Maine, the Concord Art Association, and the
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
in DC. His own favorite piece, the heroic size Egyptian Head, was displayed in the
New York World's Fair in 1939.
![George Washington Monument, Fall River, Massachusetts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/George_Washington_Monument%2C_Fall_River%2C_Massachusetts.jpg)
On July 4, 1942, Allen unveiled a monument of
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
in
Fall River, Massachusetts
Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state.
Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...
which was reported to be "of such artistic merit and patriotic intent as to attract nation-wide interest."
The monument, carved from
Deer Island granite, depicts a central portrait bust of Washington upon a pedestal.
Curved benches on either side of the bust extend toward carvings of a boy and girl.
The monument was paid for by Catholic children of Fall River.
It was the form that he turned to during the 1920s, carvings made directly from pieces of stone, mostly granite boulders from
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
that became the works closest to his heart and those for which he wanted to be remembered. He died January 9, 1961 at his retirement home in Rumney, New Hampshire at the age of 73. His assistant Elizabeth MacLean Smith wrote, "Here his teachings will go on, through his children and his pupils. And the granite boulders which he carved shall remain witness to a true sculptor".
Lineage and influences
*
Augustus St. Gaudens > Bela Pratt >Frederick Allen,
*Rodin >
John Storrs (Allen's friend in Boston and Paris and a student of Rodin),
*
Daniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...
(fellow townsman in Concord)
*Charles Grafly who succeeded Bela Pratt at SMFA from 1917 to 1929 as Head of the Sculpture Department and with whom he taught before he took over the department in 1929.
References
*''American Figurative Sculpture'', Greenthal, Kozol and Ramirez, 1986, pp. 408–411, (258 pages, 18 color plates, 231 duotones)
*Allen's Diary in the hands of his son, transcribed copies made for family members
*Biography written by his wife Agnes H. Allen, copies with family members and in the Archives of American Art
*Essay by his assistant Elizabeth MacLean Smith, copies with family members and in the Archives of American Art
*College paper by Laurel Beetham about his studio on Tavern Road in Boston, also in the Archives of American Art
*Memories of her father written by Barbara A.Benton, original and transcriptions with her daughter Christina B. Abbott
*Records from the library of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts
*Various articles obtained on the internet on people, schools and places
*AskArt has other publications listed not used in the biography and web site written by his granddaughter, Christina B. Abbott
External links
Frederick Warren AllenMuseum of Fine ArtsGuild of Boston ArtistsSt. Botolph ClubThe Tavern Club
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Frederick Warren
1888 births
1961 deaths
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
People from North Attleborough, Massachusetts
Sculptors from Massachusetts
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni
Académie Julian alumni
Académie Colarossi alumni
American expatriates in France
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts faculty
People from Concord, Massachusetts
People from Rumney, New Hampshire