Albert Arthur Allen
{{short description|American figure photographer and film director (1886–1962)}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Albert Arthur Allen
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date |1886|05|08}}
| birth_place = Grafton, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age |1962|01|25|1886|05|08}}
| death_place = Hayward, California, U.S.
| known_for = Nude photography
| spouse =
| works =
}}
Albert Arthur Allen (May 8, 1886 – January 25, 1962) was an American figure photographer and film director known for nude portraiture.
Biography
Allen was born to a wealthy New England family in 1886, and was educated in Boston. At the age of twenty-one, he moved to California and spent years traveling and studying art. In 1916, he opened the Allen Art Studios in Oakland, California, where he devoted his efforts to refining photographic techniques. The studio later became known as the Allen Institute of Fine and Applied Art, before it was destroyed by a fire in 1925. The following year, Allen rebuilt the studio and called it the Classic Motion Picture Corporation, a venture that lasted two years before declaring bankruptcy.{{cite book |first=Edan Milton |last=Hughes |author-link=Edan Milton Hughes |title=Artists in California, 1786-1940 |year=1989 |publisher=Hughes Publishing Company |isbn=978-0961611217}}
A motorcycle accident in 1923 left Allen permanently disabled, but he continued to work. His nude photographs were considered scandalous by American standards during the Roaring Twenties. He was indicted for sending obscene materials through interstate mail, and spent years in litigation.{{cite web |url=https://www.salon.com/2001/06/14/allen_4/ |title=Roaring '20s women |first=David |last=Bowman |website=Salon |date=June 14, 2001}}
File:147 3 photographs august 2023 albert arthur allen the female figure series i lama auction.jpg
Little is known about Allen's later life. His first commercial exhibition did not take place until 1979, seventeen years after his death.{{cite web |url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/albert-arthur-allen/ |title=Albert Arthur Allen |website=Artnet |access-date=May 17, 2018}}
Allen died in Hayward, California, at the age of 75.{{cite web |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/albert-arthur-allen-6659 |title=Albert Arthur Allen |website=Smithsonian American Art Museum |access-date=May 17, 2018}} He was survived by his son, Frederick.
Filmography
- Forbidden Daughters (1927)
Bibliography
- {{cite book |first=Albert Arthur |last=Allen |title=Alo Studies |year=1919 |publisher=Allen Art Studios |asin=B00088DF7E}}{{cite magazine |url={{Google books|TPksKEjg7f8C|page=118|plainurl=yes}} |title=Alo Studies Advertisement |magazine=McClure's |volume=54 |number=1 |date=March 1922 |page=118}}
- {{cite book |first1=Albert Arthur |last1=Allen |first2=Daile |last2=Kaplan |title=Premiere Nudes |year=2001 |publisher=Twin Palms Publishers |isbn=978-0944092880}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|3810616}}
- [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/648728 Albert Arthur Allen] at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- [http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr2002005429.html Albert Arthur Allen] at the Library of Congress
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Albert Arthur}}