Quick Facts
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Leroy Allen (1951-2007), was an award-winning watercolorist and figurative artist. His realistic style focused on African American life and community, and won him more than 30 art awards nationally.
Biography
Allen was a Kansas City, Kansas native. He received his first art prize in the second grade when he won a National Scholastic Art Award for a crayon drawing of a horse show called “At the American Royal”. During high school, Allen was hired by the Progressive Shopper News, a black-owned monthly newspaper, to draw a weekly cartoon column. The cartoon was about a character named Sly, an unsuccessful criminal, and was used to discourage young people from a life of crime.In high school, the comic series Allen created became a comic book.
Allen joined the Army and served in Vietnam and was honorably discharged in 1972.
Upon graduation from the University of Kansas School of Fine Art (BFA, 1977), Allen was hired by Hallmark Cards in 1980, where he became a technical supervisor. Over the years, Allen worked with and exhibited with noted Hallmark artists including Thomas Blackshear, Nancy Devard, Henry Dixon, Shane Evans, Cathy Ann Johnson, Jonathan Knight, and Dean Mitchell. He retired from Hallmark Cards after 24 years.
Of Allen's artistic skill, New Orleans art critic Doug MacCash wrote: "Although many people think of watercolor as the genteel choice of Sunday painters, it may actually be the most difficult artistic technique to master. A great watercolorist is able to create a painting with such economy and deftness that the hand of the artist is almost unnoticable - a feat akin to walking across a snowy field without leaving footprints. Both (Leroy) Allen and (Dean) Mitchell can do just that."
Exhibitions
| Year | Exhibit | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Reflections '90 | Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center, Kansas City, MO | Juried exhibition. Allen's oil painting “Big Wind” features a jazz bassist. Other artists included Richard McGill, Dean Mitchell, and Joseph L. Smith. |
| 1992 | Gallery '92 | Kaw Valley Arts and Humanities, Kansas City, MO | Virginia Mecklenburg, curator, National Museum of American Art, juror. Allen won one award for the character study, “Ma'am”. |
| 1999 | The Kansas City Six: A Reunion | Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center, Kansas City, MO | Exhibit featured art by Leroy Allen, Thomas Blackshear II, Henry Dixon, Jonathan Knight, Dean Mitchell, Ezra Tucker. |
| 2000 | Black Creativity | Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL | Allen also was included in the Black Creativity exhibits of 1996, 1997, and 1998. |
| 2002 | Black Romantic | Studio Museum in Harlem | Allen's works includedwere watercolors “Contemplation”, “Sundrops” and charcoal on paper pieces “The Glance”and “Papa Jim”.Other artists included Troy L. Johnson, Kadir Nelson and Kehinde Wiley. |
| 2003 | Celebrations and Investigations: African-American Artists in Kansas City Collections | Gallery at Village Shalom, Kansas City Jewish Museum, MO | ArtistsincludingLeroy Allen, Dawoud Bey, NedRa Bonds, Sonya Y. S. Clark, Kerry James Marshall, Robert A. Powell, Lezley Saar, Lorna Simpson, Renee Stout, Kara Walker and Carrie Mae Weems. |
| 2003 | The Light in the Other Room | American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, MO | Willis “Bing” Davis, curator.Exhibiting with Allen were 20 artists including NedRa Bonds, Ed Hogan, Lonnie Powell. |
| 2004 | Sacred Center | Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, LA | Two-person exhibit with Dennis Paul Williams. |
| 2004 | Southern Journeys | Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria LA | Allen is one of 80 artists, including Henry O. Tanner, John Biggers, Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden. |
| 2005 | Second Light | Carter Art Center Gallery, Penn Valley Community College, Kansas City, MO | Fourteen artists exhibited including Allen, Dean Mitchell, George Mayfield, and Bonnye Brown. |
| 2007 | You Know What's Real | Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS | Works on paper from the museum's permanent collection, including work by Allen. |
| 2009 | Collaborations: Two Decades of African American Art: Hearne Fine Art 1988-2008 | Pyramid / Hearne Fine Art, Little Rock, AR | 57 artists includingLeroy Allen, Benny Andrews, Phoebe Beasley, Bisa Butler, Elizabeth Catlett, Frank Frazier, Paul Goodnight, Jonathan Green, Brenda Joysmith, Phyllis Stephens, and William Tolliver. |
| 2012 | Shades of Greatness | Campanella Gallery, Park University , Arkville, MO | A traveling exhibition organized by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, 35 pieces, including works by Leroy Allen, Bonnye Browne and Kadir Nelson. |
| 2017 | A Dazzling Decade | Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS | Art from the museum's permanent collection, including work by Allen. |
Awards
- “Nestle in Sunset”, Miriam Whitsett Memorial Award, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS (2003)
- “Sundrops”, a watercolor painting, Connoisseur Award, California Watercolor Association's 35th National Exhibition, Academy of Art College Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2003)
- Jurors Award, Arizona Aqueous XVI 2001 National Juried Exhibition, Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ (2001).
- “Papa Jim”, a charcoal piece, Best Drawing Award, Bosque Conservatory Art Council's 16th Annual National Art Competition, Bosque Conservatory, Clifton, TX (2001).
- Merchandise Award, Pastel Society of North Florida at the Fort Walton Beach Museum of Art, “Pastel '98” juried exhibition.
- “Ma'am” (Tribute to P.H. Polk), Juror's Award of Excellence, Oklahoma Art Workshops' 11th Annual National Juried Exhibition (1994).
Collections
- Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
- Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art
- Sprint Nextel Art Collection includes Allen's American Sunrise, a still life featuring a blue pitcher with berries.
- Portrait of first African American mayor of St. Louis Freeman R. Bosley, Jr. by Leroy Allen, St. Louis City Hall, 2nd floor with portraits of past mayors.
Death
Allen died of suicide in March 2007 and is laid to rest in Kansas City, Kansas.In 2008, “This One I'll Do (For Leroy)”, a charcoal portrait of Leroy Allen by artist Lonnie Powell, was included in the exhibit “To Create a Better World: Artists as Educators.”