Junius Allen (1898 – 1962)

Known for his realistic and moody paintings depicting coastal landscapes and harbors of New Jersey, New York and New England, Junius Allen was one of New Jersey's most promising artists of the twentieth century.

Junius Allen was born in Summit, New Jersey, in 1898. While a student at Kingsley Preparatory School, he was mentored by national academician, Arthur Woelfle, who encouraged him to hone his artistic skills. After many close calls in the First World War, Allen returned and took a job with a lithography firm in New York. While there, he studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. At Woelfle's urging, he decided to enroll at the National Academy of Design. He also studied under Charles Hawthorne, Francis Jones, George Maynard, Ivan Olinsky and George Elmer Browne. Woelf1e also encouraged Allen to become active in the Salmagundi Club where he eventually played a distinguished role.

He was an academician of the National Academy of Design (vice president and chairman of the School Committee), and a member of the Salmagundi Club (vice president, corresponding secretary and chairman of the Art Committee).

He exhibited at the New York World's Fair (1939), the Audubon Artists, the New Rochelle Art Association (1952 prize), the American Artists Professional League, the Plainfield Art Association (1951 prize), the Montclair Art Association (1951 medal), the National Academy of Design (1933 prize, 1955 purchase award), the New Jersey Gallery in Newark (1934 prize), Allied Artists of America (1943,1949 prize) and the Salmagundi Club (1939, 1941, 1944), among others.

His work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Montclair Art Museum, the Art Museum of the New Britain Institute, the State Teachers College of Trenton, New Jersey and in many private and institutional collections.

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