Mr. J. Allen St. John is one of the youngest of American portrait painters whose work has been accorded recognition by the Society of American Artists, at whose recent exhibitions he has shown a number of interesting portraits. During the last spring opening he exhibited a notable portrait of his uncle, and the year previous a strikingly original portrait of a young artist, one of his colleagues. Both of these works showed a correctness and freedom of drawing above the ordinary, and a certain nervous quality of coloring and pose that stamped the painter as one willing to depart from the beaten tracks. IN fact, his most ambitious and just completed canvas -- a full-length painting of Caroline Miskel Hoyt -- fully justifies the high opinion held of him by those who have followed his career.

Mr. St. John has been under the direct influence of no special teacher, although he has been a pupil and is now a member of the Art Students' League. He speaks frankly of his ideas on all subjects pertaining to his art. "Portrait painting," he remarked, after speaking of his early exhibits of landscapes, "appeals to me as one of the highest branches of the painter's craft. So commonplace when stiffly and uninterestingly treated, but, on the other hand, presenting infinite possibilities  when the idea of making it a work of art holds equal place with that of truthfully rendering the features. For instance, one should look at a portrait as something not merely a likeness or photographic copy of the face alone, but a thing that is the sitter himself, his personality, to the tips of his fingers, the wrinkle of his clothes; and the artist should draw all these in so broad and sympathetic a way that those who do not know the person may yet find pleasure in the counterfeit, the lighting and the harmony of colors. I have painted many portraits of widely different types, striving always for these points, and to-day I am completely fascinated by the exquisite pleasure of studying human nature and transferring it to canvas."

Mr. St. John began his art studies at a very early age. He says, in speaking of his childhood: "My first recollections are my mother's studio, and the eyes of her portraits following me about the place."

His mother's father was Hilliard Hely, an artist of considerable talent who had spent his student life in Paris under the supervision of the worthy masters of those old days of the First Empire. His daughter received her first lessons from him, and later on Mrs. St. John went to Paris to continue her studies, taking the boy with her. "Even as a child," said Mr. St. John, "I found delight in the society of so-called bohemians my mother gathered around her, and one of my greatest pleasures was to ramble at will through the Louvre, the Luxembourg and the countless quaint and charming corners of the unfashionable parts of the city, so dear to all dreamers. But I unconsciously imitated those with whom I was brought in contact, and began to sketch and paint before I could read and write."

Mr. St. John returned to America after some years of this idle, joyous life, and after going through the usual course of schooling his father took him in hand when he reached the age of sixteen and decided to give him the chance of becoming a good, thrifty merchant. He bought him a partnership with a man of practical experience; but the dreamy boy was ill-adapted to the work and rebelled so vigorously that his father sent him, as a last resource, to his uncle's ranch in the San Joaquin valley of California, with the injunction to regain his health, to ride and to shoot, and to become a cowboy, pure and simple, for a time at least.

The lad's mind was still on the happy days of Paris and his early attempts at sketching, when he was suddenly brought into the picturesque scenery and environment of Southern California. While on a trip to Los Angeles he had the good fortune to fall under the influence of Mr. Eugene Torrey, an accomplished artist, and at one time a student in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. This meeting decided the career of the young man. He threw all other prearranged plans to the winds and spent the next three years studying under his artist friend. He travelled with him from place to place, drawing and painting the old Spanish missions, and seeking inspiration form the glories of the Yosemite and the snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Madre. Dating from this time Mr. St. John has advanced steadily.

 
ERBzin-e 035 ERB Illustrators
ERBzin-e 054 OTIS ADELBERT KLINE GALLERY
ERBzin-e 068 J. ALLEN ST. JOHN BIO & ERB CHECKLIST
ERBzin-e 069 ST. JOHN MOSAIC
ERBzin-e 070 ST. JOHN ILLUSTRATED ERB CHECKLIST
ERBzin-e 105 Tarzan the Terrible Art with commentary
ERBzin-e 124 Tarzan the Untamed Art I with commentary
ERBzin-e 125 Tarzan the Untamed Art II with commentary
ERBzin-e 220 Illustrated Reference list of ERB pulp mag appearances from 1912
ERBzin-e 239  Sacred Icons of J. Allen St. John by Nkima
ERBzin-e 240 Numa's Lair with Guide our Other St. John Sites by Nkima
ERBzin-e 247 ERB The Prophet: Inventions, Innovations & Predictions with St. John's Barsoomian Gallery I
ERBzin-e 248 ERB Future Visions ~ St. John Barsoomian Gallery II ~ ERB Predictions
ERBzin-e 249 ERB The Prophet with St. John's Barsoomian Art III
ERBzin-e 272 St John Images of Amtor III
ERBzin-e 326 Lord Greystoke Gallery - Pellucidar III - Savage Pellucidar - Land of Terror
ERBzin-e 326a Lord Greystoke Gallery - Pellucidar III - Large Images
ERBzin-e 422 Frank Schoonover Gallery
ERBzin-e 431 St. John At The Earth's Core
ERBzin-e 432 Lord Greystoke's Pellucidar Gallery
ERB C.H.A.S.E.R. Encyclopedia
ERB Illustrated Bibliography ~ Main Gallery
ERB Illustrated Bibliography ~ Gallery A
ERB Illustrated Bibliography ~ Gallery B
ERB Illustrated Bibliography ~ Gallery C
ERB Illustrated Bibliography ~ Gallery D
ERBzin-e 682 Illustrated Bibliography by Darrell Richardson (Burroughs Biblio-Pro-Phile)
ERBzin-e 602 St. John Early Bio and Colour Gallery I