ILLINOIS HISTORICAL ART PROJECT
Allworthy, Joseph
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.