BORN: September 19, 1892 Pittsburgh

DIED: August 17, 1991 Chicago

MARRIED: August 18, 1920 Grace Geimer, deceased 1975, no children

TRAINING

c.1907 Art Institute of Chicago with Wellington Reynoldsii

Art Students League

Grand Central School of Art, New York

Munich Royal Academy with Karl von Marr

Académie Julian

1926 Paris with Max Meldrumiii

Madrid

ART RELATED EMPLOYMENT

c.1907 letter artist, R. R. Donnelly Co., Chicago

Commercial illustrator for Swift & Co.; Buick; Budweiser; Hoover; Schlitz and others

TEACHING

1934iv-1945 American Academy of Art, Chicago

RESIDENCES

1892-1898 Pittsburgh

1920s Parisv

1898-1991 Chicagovi

TRAVEL

c.1913- c.1914 Germany

1937 Mexicovii

c.1939- c.1941 Germany

c.1945- c.1947 Mexico (two years)

Peripatetic traveler including ten trips to Europe and over twenty trips to Mexico

MEMBERSHIPS/OFFICES

Adventurers Club; Alliance Français, Chicago; Chicago Arts Club; Chicago Galleries Association; Cliff Dwellers Club

HONORS

1930 Fourth Purchase Prize, Chicago Galleries Association

1931 Municipal Art League Portrait Prize, Art Institute, Chicago & Vicinityviii

1931 (May) First and Fifth Prize Prizes, Chicago Galleries Associationix

1935 Municipal Art League Portrait Prize, Art Institute, Chicago & Vicinityx

1935 Gold Medal, Findlay Galleries, Chicago Summer Salonxi

JURIES SERVED

1932 Hoosier Salon

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Advertising Art, The Art Directors Club of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago 1934

Art Gallery of Ontario

Art Institute of Chicago, American Annual 1931

Art Institute, Chicago & Vicinity 1929-1931, 1933, 1935, 1936, 1938

Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress 1933

Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture by Artists Who Received Prizes In the Chicago Exhibitions for 1930, 1931, 1932, 7/21/1932

Art Institute of Chicago, Ten Chicago Painters 1940

Albright-Knox Art Gallery 1931, Great Lakes Exhibition 1938

Association of Chicago Painters and Sculptors, Home Planning building, A Century of Progress 1933xii

Carnegie Institute 1930xiii

Chicago Galleries Association semi-annual 1930, 1931,xiv 1934

Chicago Galleries Association, Prize Winning Pictures 1933xv

Chicago Galleries Association, Paintings by Artists of the Mid-West and West 1932xvi

Detroit Institute of Art

Increase Robinson Studio Gallery, Portraits of Chicago Artists by Chicago Artists 1932xvii

Magnificent Mile Art Show, Chicago 1955

Marshall Field & Company Galleries

Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester 1931

Milwaukee Art Museum

National Academy of Design 1931

Springville Museum of Art 1937, 1938

Texas Centennial Exposition, Dallas 1936

Toledo Museum of Art 1931

Walley Findlay Galleries, Chicago 1935

West End Woman's Club 1935

ONE, TWO OR THREE MAN EXHIBITIONS

1931 Chicago Galleries Associationxviii

1933 Bloomington, Illinois Art Association

1935 Chicago Woman’s Clubxix

1936 Marshall Field & Company Galleries, Chicagoxx

1937 Chicago Woman’s Aidxxi

1948 Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, Louisvillexxii; Union League Club of Chicago, Municipal Art League

INTERESTING NOTES

His specialty was still life and portraits.xxiii “Artists like Jerome Blum, Joseph Allworthy, Anthony Angarola and Emil Armin ... were following the postimpressionist flag to glory, if not to gold.” His portraits were painted in the manner of Velasquez with both vibrancy and melancholy. He often laid on the floor of the Art Institute galleries to better observe paintings.xxiv

Among those whose portraits he painted included Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson, drug manufacturer Eli Lilly, brewer Fred Pabst and aircraft maker William E. Boeing.

iSome information courtesy of artists’ grandniece, Dorianne George. A good review of his career may be found in C. J. Bulliet, “Artists of Chicago Past and Present,” Chicago Daily News, 2/15/1936, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.4.

iiHe earned his tuition with various janitorial duties.

iiiPolly Ullrich, “The Artful Odd Couple,” Parade, 11/22/1981, p.17.

ivEleanor Jewett, “News of Interest to Lovers of Art,” Chicago Tribune, 9/9/1934, part 8, p.6.

vOp. cit., Ullrich, Parade, 11/22/1981, p.17.

viOp. cit., Ullrich, Parade, 11/22/1981, p.15, conflicts with this date stating 1904. In “Joseph Allworthy, 98, Midwestern

portraitist,” Chicago Tribune, 8/18/1991, Sec. 2, p.9, the date is stated as 1898 and a similar date was given by his grandniece.

viiC. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Allworthy in Mexico,” Chicago Daily News, 1/23/1937, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.2R.

viiiThe prize was awarded his Portrait, illustrated in an article by C. J. Bulliet who said the work “comes near being the high spot of the show.” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 2/3/1931, p.1. It was also illustrated in Marguerite B. Williams, “Show Reveals Progress of Artists Here,” Chicago Daily News, 1/29/1931, in AIC Scrapbooks, Vol.58.

ix“Allworthy’s ‘Connoisseur’ Wins in Chicago,” Art Digest, 7/1/1931, Vol. 5, p.8.

xThe prize was awarded his portrait Jorge Quintas. Eleanor Jewett, “Praises Show of Art Works by Chicagoans,” Chicago Tribune, 1/31/1935, p.15.

xiC. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Findlay Medals Awarded ” Chicago Daily News, 7/20/1935, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.9. The Prize was awarded his Reflections. Eleanor Jewett, “Summer Finds Chicago Artists on the Wing: News of Interest to Lovers of Art,” Chicago Tribune, 8/4/1935, part 8, p.5.

xiiEleanor Jewett, “City’s Famous Artists Show Work At Fair: Hang Paintings in Home Planning Building,” Chicago Tribune, 6/20/1933, p.19, and “Art Exhibitions in A Century of Progress Grounds Win Favorable Comments and Attract Many Visitors,” 7/2/1933, part 8, p.6.

xiiiHis canvas Neptune’s Blooms, was purchased from the show by a Pittsburgh collector. “Allworthy Canvas Sold from Carnegie,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 1/13/1931, p.3.

xivHis The Connoisseur, was illustrated in The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 5/19/1931, p.4.

xvC. J. Bulliet, “Art Tastes of Prize Jurors in Retrospect” Chicago Evening Post, 6/171933, Art and Artists section, p.32.

xviHis Spanish Gypsy was illustrated in the Chicago Evening Post, 5/31/1932, Art Section, p.5.

xviiEleanor Jewett, “Portrait Exhibit Here Is Worthy of Attention,” Chicago Tribune, 3/20/1932, part 8, p.6.

xviii“Cassidy; Fleck; Allworthy,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 3/24/1931, p.2, and Tom Vickerman, “Allworthy, Fleck and Cassidy Exhibit,” in the 3/31 issue, p.4. Eleanor Jewett, “Navajo Indians Get Their Place in Chicago Sun” Chicago Tribune, 3/26/1931, p.23, and “ ‘Men of Art’ Is Noteworthy Book: At Chicago Galleries,” 4/5/1931, p.H4.

xixC. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Paintings by Allworthy,” Chicago Daily News, 4/27/1935, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.9. Eleanor Jewett, “Exhibits Prove Art Skill of Club Women,” Chicago Tribune, 5/18/1935, p.17.

xxC. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Allworthy’s Ginger Ale,” Chicago Daily News, 4/11/1936, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.4R. Eleanor Jewett, “Louis Cheskin

Painting Show a Vigorous One,” Chicago Tribune, 4/16/1936, p.16.

xxiC. J. Bulliet, “Around the Galleries: Allworthy Exhibition,” Chicago Daily News, 1/9/1937, Art, Antiques and The Artists section, p.2R.

xxiiThe collection remembers the 341 leaders who made major contributions to the livestock industry. Founded in 1903 the portrait gallery was hanging in the Saddle and Sirloin Club at the time of the 1934 Chicago Stock Yards fire when all were destroyed. Within a week after the fire, Robert F. Grafton was commissioned to begin repainting the portraits lost. He completed a total of 164. Othmar Hoffler was selected to succeed him as the official artist of the Club. Other artists whose works are represented in the gallery include Allworthy, Arvid Nyholm, Benjamin Kanne and Ernest Klempner. The collection then moved to Kentucky.

xxiiiHis painting The Connoisseur was illustrated in Art Digest, July 1931.

xxivSmith, Alson J., Chicago's Left Bank. (Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1953) p.167.