works of Guy de Maupassant, and later works by Gopal Mukerji and Emma-Lindsay Squier. He also illustrated the popular Sinclair Dinosaur Book for the Sinclair Refining Company. In 1917 James and Elmer joined the United States Armed Forces and served with the American Expeditionary Forces in Germany where James became a 2nd Lieutenant and flier. In 1919 he resumed his career as a freelance illustrator. James married Grace Louise Parmele in Chicago on January 8, 1919. The newlyweds moved to Frasmere Avenue in Spring Lake, New Jersey, also near Asbury Park. From this location the artist commuted to New York City and Philadelphia to sell freelance illustrations to publishers in both cities. By 1924 his greater market was in NYC, so he rented an art studio at 939 Eighth Avenue, on West 56th Street. His studio was one block from the Art Students League, where he attended classes taught by Joseph Pennell. In May of 1925 Allen traveled to Paris and rented a studio from artist John Storrs, which he shared with Howard Cook. There he experimented with various artistic media, making lithographs and etchings for the first time. Allen systematically absorbed the teachings of his “graphic heroes” Kasimir Malevich and Paul Cezanne. He admired the work of the Cubists and George Rouault, but he continued to search for economy of line and careful orchestration of tone in his own work. His first etching, Dragon Court, from 1925, is a depiction of the Parisian Cour du Dragon courtyard. Allen and Grace returned to New York City in November 1925 aboard the SS America, not, as asserted by some sources, due to the economic realities of the Great Depression some years later. He resumed work in commercial illustration and continued to hone his skills as a printmaker under Joseph Pennell and William Auerbach-Levy. It was during this period that he also studied with Arshile Gorky and Harvey Dunn at the Grand Central School of Art. While some sources claim a relationship with the Work Projects Administration (WPA), this appears not to be true. David W. Keihl writes "James E. Allen valued the worth of hard work and personal ingenuity for survival. He did not participate in the WPA programmes". In 1932, Allen first entered his prints in juried exhibitions and his work began to receive widespread academic and critical acclaim. That year his "The Builders" received both a Shaw Prize from