One of my retirement activities is research into some of the lesser know artists whose prints I collect. I hope to at least contribute Wikipedia articles for artists that I think merit more recognition. As luck would have it, my very first pick, the American artist/illustrator/printmaker James E. Allen, has taken me on an unexpected journey.

A new article, James E. Allen – E is for Edmund, documents the widespread error in print that the artists middle name is “Edward” when it is in fact “Edmund”, and offers evidence for the latter. This mistake extends into modern online authority files and linked data. With my evidence now organized and online, I am contacting as many publishers, editors, web sites as I can find to see if I can get the record corrected. I will share my progress in a later posting.

Meanwhile my work on James Allen continues. A second distraction — perfect for an obsessive person like me — is to do as complete a survey of his works as I can. The artist has no catalogue raisonné; the most complete catalog of his works is from an extensive show in the Mary Ryan Gallery in New York in 1984. That covers about 75% of his prints and none of his 100+ paintings and illustrations. More on this later!

Meanwhile, enjoy this sampling of his works:

Teeming Ingots, etching, 1935

The Builders etching, 1937

On the Reef, etching 1933