Frederick Warren Allen
Frederick Warren Allen (1888–1961) was an American sculptor of the
Early years
Allen was born May 5, 1888, in
Art education
Upon his graduation from
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
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
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, and Beatrice Van Ness 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
Allen crafted the small and popular Beaux-Arts style bronzes, medical models for
On July 4, 1942, Allen unveiled a monument of George Washington in Fall River, Massachusetts, which was reported to be "of such artistic merit and patriotic intent as to attract nation-wide interest."[1] The monument, carved from Deer Island granite, depicts a central portrait bust of Washington upon a pedestal.[1] Curved benches on either side of the bust extend toward carvings of a boy and girl.[1] The monument was paid for by Catholic children of Fall River.[1]
It was the form that he turned to during the 1920s, carvings made directly from pieces of stone, mostly granite boulders from Maine 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 (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
- ^ a b c d "George Washington Monument, Fall River, MA, 1942". Frederick Warren Allen: American Sculptor Boston School. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
- American Figurative Sculpture, Greenthal, Kozol and Ramirez, 1986, pp. 408–411, ISBN 0-87846-272-4(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