Allen Tupper True
Encyclopedia
Allen Tupper True was an American illustrator, easel painter and muralist who specialized in depicting the American West.
, was the son of Margaret Allen and Henry Alfonso True, both of New England
parentage.
Henry True was a pioneer who had fought against the succession of Texas
with Sam Houston
, driven cattle on the trail from Abilene
to Montana
, and had established a mercantile and freight business in Colorado Springs catering to the headlong mining rush pushing west into the mountains. Margaret True was to become a noted educator, serving first as a teacher in Colorado Springs and later as President of the Denver School Board and head of the truancy department. She also founded the first kindergarten in El Paso, TX, and was instrumental in establishing in Denver what may have been the first juvenile court in the US.
Allen True spent his childhood in Texas and Mexico
before the family settled in Denver, Colorado
. He graduated from Manual Training High School in Denver and spent two years at Denver University before studying at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC. True then spent 1902-1907 at the prestigious Howard Pyle
School in Wilmington, DE and Chadd’s Ford, PA. The Pyle School primarily readied students to become illustrators and whose alumni include Harvey Dunn
, Philip R. Goodwin, Gayle Hoskins, Frank E. Schoonover
, and N. C. Wyeth
. In the Fall of 1908, True went to London to study art and within a short time was asked by the imminent muralist Frank Brangwyn
to work as his assistant on murals for Skinners Hall in London. In 1915, True married Emma Goodman Eaton in Colorado Springs.They had four children: Frank in 1916, Jere in 1919, Edith in 1926 and Allen, Jr.in 1928.
Allen Tupper True died November 8, 1955 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery
in Colorado Springs, CO.
He was a member of the distinguished National Society of Mural Painters of America, whose members included John Singer Sargent
and Edwin Abbey, and he was also a Fellow of England’s Royal Society of the Arts.
at her mountain cabin. True then acquired contracts for murals in various branches of the Denver Public Library (1912–13).
In March 1913, Frank Brangwyn asked True to return to London to work on his murals to decorate the Court of Abundance at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. In July 1914, True returned to US (just missing World War One) to install Brangwyn’s murals. He also was hired by Union Oil to create a panorama and model for the company’s exhibit at the same Exposition. (The Pan American Exhibition opened in February 1915. Brangwyn murals are now installed in the Herbst Theatre of the War Memorial Building in San Francisco.)
True’s career as a muralist began when he received his first big assignment in August 1917 to paint eight panels for the Wyoming State Capitol
, which he finished in 1918. He later painted 16 murals for the Missouri State Capitol
(1922–25) and eight murals for the Colorado State Capitol
(1934–40). He also painted murals in many public buildings in Denver, Colorado, including Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph (now Quest), US National Bank (destroyed), Children’s Hospital (in storage), Colorado National Bank (now owned by Stonebridge Cos which will turn the building into a hotel), South High School
, Steele Elementary School, and the Greek Theatre and Voorhies Memorial at the Civic Center. True also painted murals for the Colorado Springs Nursery School, and murals for private homes and businesses in and around Denver (i.e. Jonas Brothers Furriers, Brown Palace Hotel and Dr. James Waring & Judge Stanley Johnson residences).
Allen True also restored the murals and decorations in the Central City Opera House
, which reopened on July 16, 1932. In 1934, True was asked by Secretary of State of Wyoming Lester C. Hunt to undertake the job of designing the familiar symbol of the bucking horse and rider
which is still used on Wyoming’s vehicle license plates. Also in 1934, True also was hired as Consulting Artist for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to lay out color schemes and create decorations for major power houses at the giant dams being built during the Thirties and early Forties (Hoover
, Grand Coulee
, Bonneville
, Shasta
, Friant
and Minidoka
). For Hoover Dam, True based his designs on Native American pottery and sand paintings in their decoration. In 1942, The Bureau of Reclamation sent him to camouflage school in Washington DC, where he drew up plans to hide America’s huge dams from the country’s wartime enemies.
In spite of a debilitating stroke suffered in the early Fifties, True completed one more mural; an exuberant depiction of a Native American eagle dance for the University of Colorado
Student Union Building in Boulder
(which is now owned by the Koshare Indian Museum
in La Junta
.
True was recognized as an authority on Indian design, costume and artifacts, as well as on the lives of westerners such as the cowboy, trapper, explorer, prospector, construction worker and farmer who are depicted in his numerous murals and easel paintings.
Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Institute of Western American Art, Denver Public Library’s Western History/Genealogy Department, and the Colorado History Museum, mounted a three-part retrospective exhibition, titled Allen True’s West, featuring True's illustrations, easel paintings and murals from October 2009 through March 30, 2010. A smaller combined exhibition toured to three U. S. museums. Denver’s Colorado Public Television - KBDI-PBS
produced an hour-long documentary on Allen Tupper True’s life, times and artistic achievements, also titled Allen True’s West, which began airing in October 2009 and also is available on DVD.
Biography
Allen Tupper True, born May 30, 1881 in Colorado Springs, ColoradoColorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and most populous city of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. Colorado Springs is located in South-Central Colorado, in the southern portion of the state. It is situated on Fountain Creek and is located south of the Colorado...
, was the son of Margaret Allen and Henry Alfonso True, both of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
parentage.
Henry True was a pioneer who had fought against the succession of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
with Sam Houston
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
, driven cattle on the trail from Abilene
Abilene, Kansas
Abilene is a city in and the county seat of Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,844.-History:...
to Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, and had established a mercantile and freight business in Colorado Springs catering to the headlong mining rush pushing west into the mountains. Margaret True was to become a noted educator, serving first as a teacher in Colorado Springs and later as President of the Denver School Board and head of the truancy department. She also founded the first kindergarten in El Paso, TX, and was instrumental in establishing in Denver what may have been the first juvenile court in the US.
Allen True spent his childhood in Texas and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
before the family settled in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. He graduated from Manual Training High School in Denver and spent two years at Denver University before studying at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC. True then spent 1902-1907 at the prestigious Howard Pyle
Howard Pyle
Howard Pyle was an American illustrator and author, primarily of books for young people. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he spent the last year of his life in Florence, Italy.__FORCETOC__...
School in Wilmington, DE and Chadd’s Ford, PA. The Pyle School primarily readied students to become illustrators and whose alumni include Harvey Dunn
Harvey Dunn
Harvey Thomas Dunn was an American painter. He is best known for his prairie-intimate masterpiece, The Prairie is My Garden. In this painting, a mother and her son and daughter are out gathering flowers from the quintessential prairie of the Great Plains.-Early life:Dunn was born on a homestead...
, Philip R. Goodwin, Gayle Hoskins, Frank E. Schoonover
Frank Schoonover
Frank Earle Schoonover was an American illustrator. Born in Oxford, New Jersey, he studied under Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia and became part of what would be known as the Brandywine School...
, and N. C. Wyeth
N. C. Wyeth
Newell Convers Wyeth , known as N.C. Wyeth, was an American artist and illustrator. He was the pupil of artist Howard Pyle and became one of America's greatest illustrators...
. In the Fall of 1908, True went to London to study art and within a short time was asked by the imminent muralist Frank Brangwyn
Frank Brangwyn
Sir Frank William Brangwyn RA RWS RBA was an Anglo-Welsh artist, painter, water colourist, virtuoso engraver and illustrator, and progressive designer.- Biography :...
to work as his assistant on murals for Skinners Hall in London. In 1915, True married Emma Goodman Eaton in Colorado Springs.They had four children: Frank in 1916, Jere in 1919, Edith in 1926 and Allen, Jr.in 1928.
Allen Tupper True died November 8, 1955 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery
Evergreen Cemetery
Evergreen Cemetery may refer to:In the United States* Evergreen Cemetery * Evergreen Cemetery , listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Cochise County, Arizona...
in Colorado Springs, CO.
He was a member of the distinguished National Society of Mural Painters of America, whose members included John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
and Edwin Abbey, and he was also a Fellow of England’s Royal Society of the Arts.
Work
While at the Pyle School and later in Boston, True provided illustrations for magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Outing, Collier’s Weekly, Scribners Magazine and Art and Progress, to name a few; and books such as Clarence E. Mulford’s The Orphan, Robert Ames Bennet’s Into the Primitive and epic poem The Song of the Indian Wars by John G. Neihardt. True created easel paintings throughout his life, depicting his beloved West and its peoples. In 1912, True sold Free Trappers, a large easel painting, to Anne Evans, daughter of then Governor Evans, which she installed as a muralMural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
at her mountain cabin. True then acquired contracts for murals in various branches of the Denver Public Library (1912–13).
In March 1913, Frank Brangwyn asked True to return to London to work on his murals to decorate the Court of Abundance at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. In July 1914, True returned to US (just missing World War One) to install Brangwyn’s murals. He also was hired by Union Oil to create a panorama and model for the company’s exhibit at the same Exposition. (The Pan American Exhibition opened in February 1915. Brangwyn murals are now installed in the Herbst Theatre of the War Memorial Building in San Francisco.)
True’s career as a muralist began when he received his first big assignment in August 1917 to paint eight panels for the Wyoming State Capitol
Wyoming State Capitol
The Wyoming State Capitol is the state capitol and seat of government of the U.S. state of Wyoming. Built between 1886 and 1890, the capitol is located in Cheyenne and contains the chambers of the Wyoming State Legislature and well as the office of the Governor of Wyoming. It was designated a U.S...
, which he finished in 1918. He later painted 16 murals for the Missouri State Capitol
Missouri State Capitol
The Missouri State Capitol is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Housing the Missouri General Assembly, it is located in the state capital of Jefferson City at 201 West Capitol Avenue. The domed building was designed by the New York architectural firm of Tracy and Swartwout and completed in 1917...
(1922–25) and eight murals for the Colorado State Capitol
Colorado State Capitol
The Colorado State Capitol Building, located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado, is the home of the Colorado General Assembly and the offices of the Governor of Colorado and Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. The building is intentionally reminiscent of the United States Capitol. Designed...
(1934–40). He also painted murals in many public buildings in Denver, Colorado, including Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph (now Quest), US National Bank (destroyed), Children’s Hospital (in storage), Colorado National Bank (now owned by Stonebridge Cos which will turn the building into a hotel), South High School
South High School (Denver)
South High School is a high school in the Washington Park neighborhood on the south side of Denver, Colorado. It is part of Denver Public Schools.-History:...
, Steele Elementary School, and the Greek Theatre and Voorhies Memorial at the Civic Center. True also painted murals for the Colorado Springs Nursery School, and murals for private homes and businesses in and around Denver (i.e. Jonas Brothers Furriers, Brown Palace Hotel and Dr. James Waring & Judge Stanley Johnson residences).
Allen True also restored the murals and decorations in the Central City Opera House
Central City Opera House
The Central City Opera House located in the National Historic Landmark District in Central City, Colorado, USA was constructed in 1878 by Welsh and Cornish miners....
, which reopened on July 16, 1932. In 1934, True was asked by Secretary of State of Wyoming Lester C. Hunt to undertake the job of designing the familiar symbol of the bucking horse and rider
Bucking Horse and Rider
The Bucking Horse and Rider is a registered trademark of the State of Wyoming. Wyoming trademarked the image for the state's license plates in 1936. However, the state's usage of the logo is traced back to as early as 1918. Wyoming is popularly known as the "Cowboy State," in part because of the...
which is still used on Wyoming’s vehicle license plates. Also in 1934, True also was hired as Consulting Artist for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to lay out color schemes and create decorations for major power houses at the giant dams being built during the Thirties and early Forties (Hoover
Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President...
, Grand Coulee
Grand Coulee Dam
Grand Coulee Dam is a gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation. It was constructed between 1933 and 1942, originally with two power plants. A third power station was completed in 1974 to increase its energy...
, Bonneville
Bonneville Dam
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of...
, Shasta
Shasta Dam
Shasta Dam is an arch dam across the Sacramento River in the northern part of the U.S. state of California, at the north end of the Sacramento Valley. The dam mainly serves long-term water storage and flood control in its reservoir, Shasta Lake, and also generates hydroelectric power...
, Friant
Friant Dam
Friant Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the upper San Joaquin River in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Fresno County and Madera County near the town of Friant. The dam, completed in 1942, forms Millerton Lake and was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns and operates the dam. The lake...
and Minidoka
Minidoka Dam
The Minidoka Dam is an earthfill dam on the Snake River in south central Idaho. The dam, originally completed in 1906, is east of Rupert on county highway 400; it is 86 feet high and nearly a mile in length, with a wide overflow spillway section. The dam and power plant were listed on the...
). For Hoover Dam, True based his designs on Native American pottery and sand paintings in their decoration. In 1942, The Bureau of Reclamation sent him to camouflage school in Washington DC, where he drew up plans to hide America’s huge dams from the country’s wartime enemies.
In spite of a debilitating stroke suffered in the early Fifties, True completed one more mural; an exuberant depiction of a Native American eagle dance for the University of Colorado
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado system is a system of public universities in Colorado consisting of three universities in four campuses: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and University of Colorado Denver in downtown Denver and at the Anschutz Medical Campus in...
Student Union Building in Boulder
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
(which is now owned by the Koshare Indian Museum
Koshare Indian Museum
The Koshare Indian Museum is a registered site of the Colorado Historical Society in La Junta, Colorado. The building, located on the Otero Junior College campus, is a tri-level museum with an attached kiva that is built with the largest self-supporting log roof in the world...
in La Junta
La Junta, Colorado
The City of La Junta is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,568 at the U.S. Census 2000. La Junta is located on the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado east of Pueblo.-History:During...
.
True was recognized as an authority on Indian design, costume and artifacts, as well as on the lives of westerners such as the cowboy, trapper, explorer, prospector, construction worker and farmer who are depicted in his numerous murals and easel paintings.
Exhibits
True had his first one-man show in Denver in November 1908 and his second and third exhibition of paintings at the Denver Public Library in 1910and 1912. From 1913-1923, exhibitions of his work traveled to over 21 cities across the United States. In 1931, True's murals for Denver's Mountain Telephone & Telegraph building were exhibited at the Architectural and Allied Arts Exposition in New York City. In 1947, the Denver Art Museum showed a collection of True's mural studies and easel paintings. An easel painting was included in The Western Legend exhibit at Kennedy Galleries in New York City in 1956.Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Institute of Western American Art, Denver Public Library’s Western History/Genealogy Department, and the Colorado History Museum, mounted a three-part retrospective exhibition, titled Allen True’s West, featuring True's illustrations, easel paintings and murals from October 2009 through March 30, 2010. A smaller combined exhibition toured to three U. S. museums. Denver’s Colorado Public Television - KBDI-PBS
KBDI-TV
KBDI-TV, known as Colorado Public Television or CPT12, is a PBS member television station in Denver, Colorado. The station is licensed to Broomfield, with studios in the Five Points neighborhood just northeast of downtown Denver. It broadcasts a digital signal on channel 13, which remaps to...
produced an hour-long documentary on Allen Tupper True’s life, times and artistic achievements, also titled Allen True’s West, which began airing in October 2009 and also is available on DVD.
Further reading
- Allen Tupper True: An American Artist, True, Jere & Victoria Tupper Kirby, San Francisco, Canyon Leap and Museum of the Rockies, 2009
- The Allen Tupper True and True Family Papers, 1841- 1987, Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art
- Allen True’s West, Peter H. Hassrick, American Art Review, Vol. XXI, No. 6, 2009.
- New Mexico Art History Conference: Abstracts 1986-1995, 1996, Robert White, Ed., .
- Seeing Allen True: The Life and Art of an American Muralist, Alisa Zahller, Colorado Heritage, The Magazine of the Colorado Historical Society, Denver, September–October 2009.