19 Facts About Joseph Allworthy

Joseph Allworthy was a prominent mid-twentieth-century American representational, tonal-realist painter based in Chicago, known for his still life compositions and portraits.

Joseph Allworthy did notable work in the field of commercial art and advertisements.

Joseph Allworthy's father was a decorator and illustrator who assisted in the adorning of the walls and ceilings of the Congressional Library at Washington.

Joseph Allworthy got his initial training under his father and at the age of 14 worked as an errand-boy in the art department of RR Donnelley.

Joseph Allworthy began his formal artistic studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, but never graduated and went on to study at the 'Grand Central' in New York.

Joseph Allworthy studied under Meldrum and adopted his techniques and theory of art.

Joseph Allworthy established himself as a prominent painter excelling in still life compositions.

Joseph Allworthy's work became significant in the middle of the 20th century when decades after the Armory Show in New York introduced modern art to America, Joseph Allworthy focused on keeping the tradition of tonal, representational art alive in the mid-1900s.

Joseph Allworthy's portrait is done with the old time skill of a Sargent.

The subjects of Joseph Allworthy's portraits are a veritable who's who of the American Midwest of the mid-century.

Joseph Allworthy painted the official portrait of Adlai Stevenson for his 1952 presidential bid and later his sister's too.

Joseph Allworthy was proud of his skills in lettering, design, layout, typography and commercial paintings and was much sought after for them.

Joseph Allworthy even earned a comfortable living out of it.

Joseph Allworthy was an artist who deeply contemplated on the nature of his art.

Profoundly influenced by the great past masters Velazquez and Rembrandt, and more immediately by his teacher Max Meldrum, Joseph Allworthy tried to develop further the latter's theory of vision and painting.

Joseph Allworthy contended visual sensations are interpreted with the aid of one's past experience of other pictures or nature.

Mr Joseph Allworthy has had a number of invitations to teach in schools throughout the country, but this is the first time he has yielded to the temptation.

At the twilight of his career in the late 1970s he not only bequeathed his studio to his grand-niece and adopted daughter Dorian Joseph Allworthy, but imparted the secrets of his art to her.

The studio to this day preserves not only his memory but his heritage, as Dorian Joseph Allworthy continues to perpetuate his legacy.