James Latimer Allen

James Latimer Allen (1907–1977) was a photographer and portraitist known for his images of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s.

Biography

Allen was born in New York City, and by the late 1920s he built a photography studio in which many of the elites from the era was photographed. Among the figures he photographed includes Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Alain Locke, and Carl Van Vechten.

Artistic work

According to New York Times art critic William Zimmer, Allen's work helped "underscored the emergence" of "The New Negro" philosophy of the time. He was featured in the 1930s film A Study of Negro Artists, along with Richmond Barthé, Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, William Ellisworth Artis, Malvin Gray Johnson, Augusta Savage, Lois Mailou Jones, and Georgette Seabrooke, and others. According to Camara Dia Holloway author of "Allen, James Latimer" records show Allen enlisted in World War 2.

Posthumous publicity

His work was exhibited in Yale University Art Gallery in 1999. He was awarded a $50 commission prize by the Harmon Foundation for his work in photography as a Negro artist. The show in 1933, however, was said to not be very representative of the work being done nationwide by Negro artists.