Freelon, Allan Randall
(Philadelphia, PA, 1895-Telford, PA, 1960)
Painter, printmaker.

Bibliography and Exhibitions | | Images

Education: Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Diploma in Art Education, 1916; Graduate, Philadelphia School of Pedagogy, 1919; studied at the Barnes Foundation, 1927-30; M.F.A., Tyler School of Fine Arts, 1943. Student of Earl Horter, Hugh Breckenridge, Emil Gruppe.

Biography: Army service 1917-19. Appointed the first African American supervisor of art education in the Philadelphia public schools, 1921. Launched the short-lived literary magazine Black Opals, 1927. The first African American member of the Print Club of Philadelphia, 1929. Participated in Harmon Foundation exhibitions (1928-31), exhibitions at the Tra Club of Philadelphia (1930s) and the Pyramid Club (1936-), the exhibition on lynching sponsored by the N.A.A.C.P., 1935, the Negro Exposition, Chicago, 1940. Selected for the Second Whitney Museum Biennial, 1936; numerous solo exhibitions (Howard University, Atlanta University, Lincoln University, Warwick Galleries, and other venues.) Collaborated with Dox Thrash, 1939. Early civil rights activist. Worked in Philadelphia; summers in Gloucester (MA) during the early 30s; later at his studio/farm Windy Hill in Telford, PA.

Media: Oil, conte, charcoal, aquatint, etching, lithography.

Imagery: Impressionist landscape, cityscape, portraiture, nudes, still life. Harbors, farmhouses, bridges, boats, factories, labor (road menders, welders, fishermen). Philadelphia, Gloucester.

Public Collections: Howard University, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, University of Pennsylvania.