James Allen St. John (October 1, 1872 – May 23, 1957) was an American author, artist and illustrator. He is especially remembered for his illustrations for the novels of

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

, although he illustrated works of many types. He taught at the

Chicago Art Institute The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatoria ...

and with the

American Academy of Art The American Academy of Art College was a private for-profit art school in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1923 for the education of fine and commercial arts students. In July 2024, the college announced its pending closure. History The ...

. He is considered by many to be 'The Godfather of Modern Fantasy Art'. His most famous disciples were

Roy Krenkel Roy Gerald Krenkel (July 11, 1918 – February 24, 1983), who often signed his work RGK, was an American illustrator who specialized in fantasy and historical drawings and paintings for books, magazines and comic books. Influences and stu ...

and

Frank Frazetta Frank Frazetta (born Frank Frazzetta ; February 9, 1928 – May 10, 2010) was an American artist known for themes of Fantasy art, fantasy and science fiction, noted for comic books, mass market paperback, paperback book covers, paintings, p ...

, the latter of whom has also been styled as the grandmaster of the Genre. St. John's artistic career began in 1898. He studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

which included

William Merritt Chase William Merritt Chase (November 1, 1849October 25, 1916) was an American painter, known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later became the Parsons School of Design. ...

, F.V. Du Mond, George de Forest Brush, H. Siddons Mowbray, Carol Beckwith and Kenyan Cox. This was followed by his first commercial relationship with the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

''. During this period he spent time in Paris from 1906 to 1908 at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

, then moved to Chicago around 1912 and would eventually live at Tree Studios art colony until his death. While in Chicago he became close friends with artist

Louis Grell Louis Frederick Grell (November 30, 1887 – November 21, 1960) was an American figure composition and portrait artist based in the Tree Studio resident artist colony in Chicago, Illinois. He received his formal training in Europe from 1900 thr ...

. Here he began his work with the publisher A.C. McClurg & Co., although he had already produced his best-known work for this publisher back in 1905, ''The Face in the Pool'', which he had both written and illustrated.

References

External links

* http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?261822 Publication: The Paintings of J. Allen St. John: Grand Master of Fantasy Publication Record # 261822 Authors: Stephen D. Korshak, J. David Spurlock, J. Allen St. John Date: 2008-07-00 Publisher: Vanguard Productions Type: NONFICTION Cover: The Paintings of J. Allen St. John: Grand Master of Fantasy (1925) • by J. Allen St. John (variant of ''The Eternal Lover'')
Biography
at ERBzine.com * * *

(book) at VanguardProductions.net * (bpib.com/illustrat) * * (alphabetization failure?) 1872 births 1957 deaths School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni American illustrators American fantasy artists Artists from Chicago American science fiction artists Pulp fiction artists {{chicago-stub