James Allen St. John is listed in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution. He is also listed in Edan Hughes art reference book titled Artists in California, 1786-1940.
James Allen St. John was born on October 1, 1872, in Chicago, Illinois. His grandfather Hilliard Hely and his mother Susan Hely were both artists. When James was eight-years-old, his mother took him to Paris where she studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. They lived in Europe for three years, before returning to the United States and settling in New York City.
James Allen St. John moved to California in 1888, where he lived with relatives on a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley. He studied with California landscape painter Eugene Torrey. Three years later James returned to New York and studied with William Merritt Chase at the Art Students League. In 1901, James Allen St. John opened his own art studio in New York.
In 1905, he met and married Ellen May Munger. The couple moved to France, where he studied at the Academie Julian in Paris. In 1910, they returned to the United States and settled in Chicago where he served as a professor of art at the American Academy of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He also taught painting classes for professional advertising illustrators at The Businessmen's Art Association. He created illustrations for numerous fantasy, science fiction, and adventure novels and is especially known for illustrating thirty-six books by Edger Rice Burroughs.
In 1917, at the age of forty-six James Allen St. John was too old to serve in The Great War, thus to support the war effort he designed several patriotic recruitment posters that were published by the Brett Litho. Co. He also designed Liberty Bonds.
James Allen St. John died on May 23, 1957, in Chicago, Illinois.
The art of James Allen St. John is or has been exhibited and/or offered for sale in museums, government institutions, universities, art associations, shops, and auction houses including but not necessarily limited to the following:
Ahlers & Ogletree, Atlanta, GA
American Watercolor Society, New York City, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Bonhams Skinner, Marlborough, MA
Bunte Auction, Elgin, IL
Burnaby Village Museum, Burnaby, BC, Canada
Businessmen’s Art Association, Chicago, IL
Century of Progress, Chicago, IL
Chicago Galleries Association, Chicago, IL
Christie’s, New York City, NY
Cobbs, Peterborough, NH
Cowan’s Auction, Cincinnati, OH
Dargate Auction Galleries, Blairsville, PA
Dreweatts, Newbury, England
Fairhill Auction, Elkton, MD
Heartwood Books & Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Heritage Auctions, New York City, NY
Illustrated Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Illustration House, New York City, NY
Leonard Auction, Addison, IL
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Louis J. Dianni, West Palm Beach, FL
Museum of Illustrations, New York City, NY
Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY
Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Panama-Pacific International Expo, San Francisco, CA
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Pennsylvania, PA
Poster Auctions International, New York City, NY
Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, TN
Swann Auction Gallery, New York City, NY
Turner Auctions, San Francisco, CA
Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN
University of Texas, Austin, TX
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