James Allen, 'Spiderboy' — American Realism, New York City, 1937

James Allen, 'Spiderboy', 1937, etching, edition 40, Ryan 86. Signed in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, on cream laid paper, with full margins (1 1/4 to 2 7/8 inches). A spot of printer’s ink in the top right margin, well away from the image, in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 11 x 8 7/16 inches (179 x 214 mm); sheet size 15 1/2 x 11 inches (394 x 279 mm). Illustrated in 'American Art of the Great Depression: two sides of the coin', Howard E. Wooden, Witchita Art Museum, 1985. Impressions of this work are held in the collections of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cornell University Library, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Wichita Art Museum. ABOUT THE ARTIST James E. Allen is acclaimed for his printmaking imagery focusing on American industry and the heroic workers of the 1930s and 40s. A Montana native, Allen began his art education at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1911, where he studied painting and drawing. After moving to New York City, he worked as an illustrator for popular periodicals such as Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post, as well as for the book publisher Doubleday, Page, and Company. Following his service as a fighter pilot in World War I, he married artist Grace Parmelee and continued his career as a commercial illustrator in New York City. In the early 1920s, Allen studied etching with Joseph Pennell at the Art Students League in New York. He made his first etching in 1925 in Paris, where he shared a studio with fellow American artist Howard Cook. He drew inspiration from the spacial innovations of cubism, the powerful figural paintings of French artist Georges Rouault, and the structurally rigorous compositions of Paul Cézanne. To enhance his figurative renderings, he adopted the academic practice of drawing from the model. Returning to New York in 1930 during the Great Depression, he managed to