Ralph Pallen Coleman

Ralph Pallen Coleman (June 27, 1892 – April 3, 1968) was an American painter and illustrator. His career spanned more than half a century during which he illustrated stories for many magazines, and later, religious illustrations and paintings which provided images of Christianity to millions of people during the 1950s–1960s. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he grew up and lived there throughout his 75 years.

Early life Ralph Pallen Coleman was born to William Herr Coleman, a Philadelphia grocer, and Emma Coleman, a saloon keeper. He had one brother, William B. Coleman. Coleman attended grade school at the Camac School in North Philadelphia. Initially, he was athletically inclined and organized baseball teams at his home church, Bethlehem Presbyterian Church. His earliest existing drawing is a pencil sketch of Revolutionary soldiers that he drew in 1901, when he was nine years old. While attending Central High School which specialized in the classic teachings of Latin and Greek, he was awarded a partial scholarship to art school and left high school early. He received his formal art education at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art which was then part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It is now an independent university called The University of the Arts. It was here that he learned the formal techniques of draftsmanship under the influence of Walter H.Everett, a teacher of illustration and one of the most highly regarded technicians of his time. Coleman displayed his facility for drawing the human face and figure and won first prize in a life drawing competition. Shortly thereafter, in 1913, he decided to strike out on his own by leaving school and taking a small studio, with two other students at 6th & Walnut Streets just a few blocks from the school and across the street from Curtis Publishing Company. Early assignments were not easy to come by for the illustrator. His first sale — a small line drawing to the American Sunday School Union — brought in $7.50. Sometimes, Coleman turned author so that he would end up both writing and illustrating his own stories.

Magazine illustrations

Coleman formally got his education at the School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia. However, he never completed those studies. In 1917 he entered the commercial field due to financial need and joined the commercial art world of periodical publication that was flourishing in Philadelphia at the time. At this point, much of Coleman's work was for newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and the now defunct North American; for book jackets; and for religious publishing houses. During the First World War he executed a variety of war-related posters and illustrations including his first cover illustration for Literary Digest. It was a cover in 1917 featuring a doughboy "going over the top" in France. "Going over the top" refers to when a soldier would attempt to cross "no man's land" between two opposing trenches. During World War I he worked in the Marine Camouflage Department where he and several other artists directed the painting of both combat and merchant vessels. In 1915 that Coleman achieved a lifelong ambition when he sold his first illustration to the Saturday Evening Post.

Coleman’s interpretation of Jesus was influenced by Coleman’s studies on historical religious illustrations. His art style is known to always represent the subject as a young man, which was common in all his religious artworks. This can be seen from many of his major works like his 17 paintings for Life of Jesus by Donald F. Irvin, 57 paintings for The Way, The Truth and The Life, and 42 illustrations for Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible.

In his later years, Mr. Coleman designed a series of stained glass windows on the life of Christ for Grace Presbyterian Church and lectured extensively in the Philadelphia area showing slides of his paintings. Coleman’s work can still be viewed in many Philadelphia area venues. His commissioned works set the tone for the Whitemarsh Park chapel. His work in stained glass adorns the Grace Presbyterian Church in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. A collection of his later work and papers resides in the Special Collections Research Center at the Syracuse University.

Personal life

Ralph Pallen Coleman was born to William Herr Coleman, a Philadelphia grocer, and Emma Coleman, a saloon keeper. He had one brother, William B. Coleman. Coleman married Florence L. Haeberle of Philadelphia on June 2, 1917, and they had one son, Ralph P. Coleman Jr. He was a founding director and vice president of the Over-the-Counter Securities Fund, Inc., of Oreland, Pennsylvania and a founding officer of the Baederwood, Inc. land holding company. He served as a governor of the Health Club of the Philadelphia Young Men’s Christian Association, the Huguenot Society of Pennsylvania and a member of the National Society of Mural Painters and the Society of Illustrators. He died in Philadelphia at the age of 75 on April 3, 1968.