Denver’s Colorado Public Television – KBDI-PBS produced an hour-long documentary on Allen Tupper True’s life, times and artistic achievements, titled Allen True’s West.
KBDI’s Allen True’s West showcases the life and art of Colorado’s foremost muralist, whose later work captured the character of a region in transition from wild frontier to the modern West. It includes shots of his major murals in their architectural settings, many of his easel paintings and illustrations, as well as photographs True took of Native Americans, cowboys, surveyors, lumbermen and other Western pioneers and settlers. The program also includes interviews with renowned curator and Western art expert Peter Hassrick, Missouri historian Robert Priddy, Allen True’s daughter Edith True Marbut and granddaughter Victoria Tupper Kirby.
This is a perfect gift for anyone interested in the history of the West and Western art.
If you wish to buy the PBS program, please go the the main menu and click on “THE DVD” and at the bottom of the page is a BUY button that links you to PayPal.
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DENVER – The Colorado History Museum has put together a wonderful exhibit, featuring artist Allen True. In the early 1900’s, True painted murals as public art projects, all over the city.
He also painted murals in private homes and as public art in other states.
True’s works are right in front of us to this day, although many people never notice. They are Denver’s hidden murals.
You can see Allen True’s murals at Civic Center Park. Tucked into the stately columns and stonework of the Greek Theater, are two murals painted in 1919. They reflect the times; prospectors, trappers and miners.
Alisa Zahller, who put together the exhibit at the Colorado History Museum, says True painted the west as he knew it, as he had seen it, and as he had experienced it.
Zahller found dozens of True paintings for the exhibit. Before he did big murals, he painted the scenes as mural studies – rough drafts if you will. They now hang on the museum’s walls and are beautiful in their own right. The studies feature not only existing murals, but also works that have been destroyed. For instance, True once painted murals for the old Continental Oil Company building on Glenarm. It was torn down in 1976, and only the mural studies remain.
Possibly the most famous True murals decorate the rotunda of the Colorado state capitol. They tell the story of water in Colorado. When the state ran out of money and couldn’t pay True the $12,000 to finish the project, philanthropist Claude Boettcher stepped up and the they were completed in 1940.
Some of True’s most spectacular murals are in the lobby of the now empty Colorado National Bank building at 17th and Champa. They show his vision of Native American life, from young to old to life along the way.
Zahller says True was one of the most prolific artists in the country, but many people have never heard of him. She says it is because of his personality.
“He was great at selling himself and getting commissions, but he wasn’t so great at saying look at me as the artist,” she said.
Now, years after his death, we get a chance to look at True as the artist. This exhibit pays tribute to his talent and legacy which is long overdue.
The “Allen True” exhibit runs at the Colorado History Museum through next spring. Parts of it are also featured at the Denver Art Museum and Denver Public Library main branch.
“Colorado Heritage Magazine” has listed a number of places where you can see Allen True murals.
Among them: Denver Public Library central branch, Civic Center Park, Qwest building downtown, Colorado State Capitol, South High School, Brown Palace, Phipps Tennis House, Denver Unniversity, Denver City and County Building, Wyoming State Capitol, Montana National Bank, Colorado Springs Nursery School, Missouri State Capitol and the Colorado National Bank building in Denver (now closed).
"Miners Court" mural by Allen Tupper True
"Frontier Trial" mural by Allen Tupper True
The Denver-based blog buckfifty.org, a site dedicated to telling less well-known stories of denver history, culture, and art and curated by Hugh Graham and Jill Hadley Hooper, asked Victoria T. Kirby to submit a story about Allen Tupper True to help draw attention to the three exhibitions of his work and life now open at the Denver Art Museum, Colorado History Museum and main Public Library. She submitted the story about how long it took (almost 3o years!) for True to receive a commission for two murals in the City and County Building. Here is the URL: buckfifty.org to check out the story.
Victoria Kirby in front of one of the Steele Elementary School murals by Allen True
The Denver Post‘s special weekly insert “Your Hub” included an article and photo of True’s granddaughter Victoria Tupper Kirby’s visit to Denver’s Steele Elementary School to see five large murals that True painted around 1930 on three walls in the kindergarten room. The murals depict children playing by the seaside and a wonderful two-part parade of animals and children.
Kirby was in Denver on a book tour to promote Allen Tupper True: An American Artist, the biography of her grandfather written by her mother Jere True and herself and to attend festivities around the openings of Allen True’s West, three exhibitions of the life and work of True on display at the Denver Art Museum, Colorado History Museum and the Main Public Library. She also attended a party at the Brown Palace Hotel to celebrate the premiere of an hour-long PBS special, also titled Allen True’s West, that aired on KBDI-Channel 12 October 1. Kirby learned about the murals at Steele just before the biography was printed, so she was able to write briefly about their existence in the Epilogue, but could not include photos.
Irene Rawlings interviewed Victoria Tupper Kirby on her weekly Clear Channel program “Focus.” You can hear the interview via podcast. Go to: http://www.kbco.com/pages/focus.html and click on “listen to podcasts.” The interview is in two sections. Enjoy.
The Sunday, September 27 issue of the Denver Post has a major article on Allen Tupper True written by Ray Mark Rinaldi that covers the 3 Denver exhibits, biography, an interview on KBCO’s “Focus”, KBDI-Channel 12’s program, and Victoria Tupper Kirby’s book talk at the Tattered Cover bookstore. The link for this article is: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_13413875
The premiere of Denver’s PBS TV station KBDI-Channel 12 of ALLEN TRUE’S WEST is on Thursday, October 1 at 8:00 pm, followed by another airing on Sunday, October 4 at 7 pm. The program will be available on KBDI’s website at a later date.
Go to this link to see a short preview of this hour-long biography: http://www.kbdi.org/tv_schedule/program_details.cfm?id=120091001200000
As a young illustrator, Allen Tupper True forged a vision of the American West that was at once romantic and realistic. KBDI’s ALLEN TRUE’S WEST showcases the life and art of Colorado’s foremost muralist, whose later work captured the character of a region in transition from wild frontier to the modern West.
Victoria Kirby will talk about Allen Tupper True: An American Artist with Irene Rawlings, Producer and Host of “Focus.” The interview will be aired on Sunday, October 4 at 10:30 pm on Denver, Colorado’s KBCO 97.3 FM radio station. Ms. Rawlings also will highlight the biography on her blog: http://www.kbco.com/pages/focus.html.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Krissy Bassuener, DAM, 720-913-0115
July 15, 2009 Celeste Jackson, DPL, 720-865-2044
Images available upon request. Rebecca Laurie, CHM, 303-866-3670
www.history.denverlibrary.org/AllenTruesWest
ALLEN TRUE’S WEST COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITION OPENS OCTOBER 2, 2009
Denver Art Museum, Colorado History Museum and Denver Public Library
join forces to tell the story of one of Colorado’s favorite artists
(Denver, Colo.)— A three-part collaborative exhibition featuring the work of Colorado artist Allen Tupper True, presented by the Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Institute of Western American Art (DAM), the Denver Public Library’s Western History and Genealogy Department (DPL) and the Colorado History Museum (CHM), will open at all three venues on October 2. Each venue will highlight a unique aspect of the renowned artist’s work, including illustrations, easel paintings and public murals that depict life in the American West during the early 20th century. The joint endeavor also includes a documentary film on the artist and his life, produced by KBDI PBS, Colorado Public Television. Allen True’s West is organized by the DAM and will run October 2, 2009 through March 28, 2010, in Denver, and will travel to additional museums in the western region.
“Allen Tupper True is regarded as one of Colorado’s premier native-born artists, and his art is as complex as it is enduring. He strived to ‘see and feel the beauties of Colorado,’ translating that into his creations,” said Peter Hassrick, Director Emeritus of the Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the Denver Art Museum. “His decades as an artist spanned illustrating and painting, and his reflections on the American West punctuate our everyday lives in the city of Denver and beyond.”
True’s style of illustration was built on the famed Brandywine tradition, his easel paintings embodied the exuberance and chromatic vigor of British muralist Frank Brangwyn, and his murals were decorative and elegant, with a focus on Western subjects.
Born in 1881 in Colorado Springs and raised mostly in Denver, True graduated from Manual Training High School in northeast Denver. He studied briefly at the University of Denver. True’s interest in the arts in his twenties led him to the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. His rapid advances in illustration and drawing earned him admittance into renowned artist Howard Pyle’s exclusive school of illustration in Wilmington, Del. It was with Pyle that True learned to “live in his art.” During this training, his lifetime friendship with fellow art student N.C. Wyeth developed. For a time, the two worked together under Pyle’s direction, eventually sharing a studio and creative ideas. True worked in illustration until 1915, while also focusing on easel paintings until about 1917. But the majority of his career was devoted to murals.
Denver Public Library
While studying under Pyle, True began to develop original painted illustrations for books and magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s Weekly and Outing Magazine. One of the most compelling illustrations from this time was included in a series of paintings from Colorado accompanying his story, “The Mountain Pony,” in the spring 1908 edition of Outing Magazine. In the work, “The Mountain Pony Has the Climbing Ability of a Goat,” True aimed to “connect man, horse and wilderness together into one universal and symbiotic system,” according to Hassrick in his essay entitled Allen True: The Early Years. This illustration and other True works including studio props, vintage magazines and books created between 1905 and 1915 will be on view on the 5th floor of the Denver Public Library.
Denver Art Museum
True began to envision his art beyond the ephemeral medium of magazines and newspapers, focusing on easel painting and fine art as early as 1912. His creations included landscapes and themes from western frontier life, and subjects from Taos and the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. His work was exhibited and praised from Los Angeles to Cincinnati. Exemplary pieces from his easel paintings include A Wanderlust Memory, painted in 1912. This and 12 additional True easel paintings will be on view in the Denver Art Museum’s Gates Western Gallery on the second level of the Hamilton Building.
Colorado History Museum
True’s longest creative period was as a muralist. In 1909, after studying in London under noted British muralist Frank Brangwyn, True returned to Colorado where in 1911 he received his first private mural commission and, in 1912, received his first public commission. By 1915, he had established himself as a muralist. Over the next 40 years, True worked on many public and private mural commissions including murals done for the Colorado, Wyoming and Missouri state capitols. In Denver, he received commissions for murals in the Colorado National Bank building, Denver Telephone Company building and Denver’s Civic Center. His work, according to a critic of the day, expressed a “freedom and happy abandon rarely seen in American art.” Large-scale murals, mural studies, photographs and other details related to his mural work will be highlighted at the Colorado History Museum.
Allen True’s West is presented by the Denver Art Museum in association with the Colorado History Museum and the Denver Public Library. This exhibition is sponsored by the True Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the JFM Foundation, Edith Marbut, Tom and Jane Petrie, Raymond and Sally Duncan, Crimson Resource Management, Leptas Foundation, Rob and Julie Lewis, Redd Foundation, Bruce and Dorothy Dines, Jim and Lucy Wallace, Alan and Carol Ann Olson, Joan True McKibben, Mr. and Mrs. Will F. Nicholson Jr., David Cook Fine Arts Galleries and Mr. and Mrs. Barton M. Johnson. We also recognize the generosity of the citizens who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District and the donors to the DAM Annual Fund Leadership Campaign.
Allen True’s West is a three-part exhibition. Tickets are included in general admission to the Denver Art Museum and admission to the Denver Public Library and Colorado History Museum is free.
Denver Art Museum
The Denver Art Museum is located on 13th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock streets in downtown Denver. Open Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday noon-5 p.m.; closed Mondays, July 4, Thanksgiving and Christmas. (General admission is free on the first Saturday of each month.) Free First Saturdays are sponsored by Target and made possible by the citizens who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District. The Cultural Complex Garage is open; enter from 12th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock or check the DAM websites for up-to-date parking information. For information in Spanish, call 720-913-0169. For more information, visit www.denverartmuseum.org or call 720-865-5000.
Denver Public Library
Open daily; closed on major holidays. Denver’s award-winning Library features a whimsical Children’s Library, Summer of Reading programs, storytimes, public computers and cultural programming for children and adults. DPL holds world-class Western History materials including art, maps, rare books and manuscripts. For more information, visit www.denverlibrary.org or call 720-865-1111.
Colorado History Museum
The Colorado History Museum, located at 1300 Broadway in Denver, is a History Colorado site. Open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday noon-5 p.m. History Colorado is the public programs, services, statewide museums and historic sites of the Colorado Historical Society. The Colorado Historical Society was established in 1879 and is headquartered at the Colorado History Museum. In addition to History Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society contains the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, the Stephen H. Hart Research Library, and administers the State Historical Fund—a preservation-based grants program funded by limited stakes gaming tax revenues. For more information, visit www.coloradohistory.org or call 303-866-3682.
EXHIBITION PROGRAMMING
Book Signing: Allen Tupper True: An American Artist
TATTERED COVER BOOKSTORE, LODO
Wednesday, September 30, 7:30 p.m.
Victoria Tupper Kirby will be on hand for a book signing and lecture for the recently released Allen True biography. The book was researched and written by True’s eldest daughter Jere, former reporter for the The Denver Post and publicity director for Aspen, Colorado and granddaughter Kirby.
“‘Allen Tupper True: An American Artist’ recalls, in amazing detail, True’s own creative awakening and his crucial role in creating and recording the region’s rich history. True’s inclusive vision brought overdue dignity to the region’s earliest inhabitants. His groundbreaking murals of Western vistas made the region a more beautiful place and served as giant documentaries about a disappearing way of life.” — Ray Rinaldi, Denver Post
Documentary: Allen True’s West
COLORADO PUBLIC TELEVISION – KDBI CHANNEL 12
Scheduled Air Dates: Thursday October 1, 8 p.m. and Sunday October 4, 7 p.m.
American artist Allen True’s life, times and artistic achievements are documented in this profile of an artist whose love of the West reverberate through his well know murals, illustrations and easel paintings.
Family member interviews, location shoots at the Hoover Dam, the Wyoming, Missouri and Colorado State Capitols are interspersed with interviews of art historians and family member reminisces.
The documentary will be distributed to schools and libraries throughout the state to help promote a richer understanding of Colorado history through the eyes of native, Allen True.
Bus Tour: The Artwork and Life of Denver’s Allen True
COLORADO HISTORY MUSEUM
Saturday, November 14, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Take in Colorado history in an extraordinary day-long exploration of Allen True’s murals. Jim Barrett, True historian and consultant to Allen True’s West, will lead this tour, offering his insight into the art, life and times of True. A comfortable touring coach will usher participants throughout the city with planned stops at the state capitol, the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Building, Steele Elementary, South High School and Allen True’s studio. Lunch at the Brown Palace Hotel.
Cost of tour includes bus transportation to and from the Colorado History Museum, lunch, coffee and danish, and all interpretation. Reservations necessary, call (303) 866-4686.
First Friday: Food for Your Mind
COLORADO HISTORY MUSEUM
Friday, December 4, 12:15 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Join the Denver Art Museum’s Peter Hassrick for an informal look at Allen Tupper True’s life, times and art. True, Colorado’s premier homegrown artist of the first half of the 20th century, explored and mastered several types of media during his career. His dramatic pictorial renditions of western life earned national praise during America’s golden age of illustration. True began to paint and exhibit fine art works in oil around 1909. These works traveled nationally and brought him much fame and some patronage. By the mid-1910s, he had moved on to establish himself as Colorado’s top muralist. Bring your own lunch or purchase food from the Neusteters Museum Store. Drinks and cookies provided. Reservations not necessary, $5. For information call (303) 866-4686.
Three Views of True
DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY, DENVER ART MUSEUM, COLORADO HISTORY MUSEUM
Saturday, January 23, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Illustrations, easel paintings and murals….Allen True did it all. Partake in a movable feast of art and information about the three genres that captivated Allen True’s artistic attention. Three viewpoints will be offered by curators Peter Hassrick at the Denver Art Museum, Alisa Zahller at the Colorado History Museum and Julie Anderies at the Denver Public Library, followed by lunch. Proceeds from this special tour will benefit the School of Art and Art History at DU and celebrate the institution that True, Hassrick, Zahller and Anderies all attended. For more information, call Julie Anderies, (303) 688-4754.
Self-Guided Walking Tour
DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY, DENVER ART MUSEUM, COLORADO HISTORY MUSEUM
Ongoing, offered throughout the exhibition
Grab a map from any of the three exhibition venues and head out in search of True’s treasures that embellish downtown Denver’s landscape. Mapped sites will include anecdotal highlights of True’s work. If paper isn’t your thing, download the Google Earth tour on your computer or phone and view how Denver’s infrastructure incorporated True’s art. For more information and maps, visit history.denverlibrary.org/AllenTruesWest