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Miss Elizabeth Allen – Introduction
Miss Elizabeth Allen – Catalogue Raisonné
Miss Elizabeth Allen – Life & Work, by Hazel Conway

EXHIBITIONS

1966
First Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883) (Catalogue shown right)
Crane Kalman Gallery, Knightsbridge, London, U.K
18th February – 12th March 1966 (First exhibition)

An Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883)
Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, U.K.
2nd April – 30th April 1966

An Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883)
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, U.K.
12th May – 5th June 1966

An Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883)
Bradford City Art Gallery, Bradford, U.K.
16th June – 9th July 1966

An Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883) [?]
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, U.K.
13th August – 4th September 1966

An Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883) [?]
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K.
??? – ??? 1966

An Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883) [?]
Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, U.K.
??? – ??? 196

An Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883) [?]
Winchester School of Art, Winchester, U.K.
??? – ??? 196

1967
An Exhibition of New Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (b.1883)
Crane Kalman Gallery, Knightsbridge, London, U.K.
14th April – 6th May 1967

First American Exhibition of Patchwork Pictures by Miss Elizabeth Allen (1883-1967)
Fleischer Anhalt Gallery, La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, USA
1st October – 19th October 1967

1968

1969
First Exhibition in New York of Patchwork Pictures by Elizabeth Allen (1883-1967)
La Boetie Inc, 1042 Madison Avenue, New York, USA
28th January – 22nd February 1969

1973
Alfred Wallis and Elizabeth Allen: Two Naive British Artists
Crane Arts, London, U.K.
28th November – 22nd December 1973

Her works were also shown at:
Salon Internacional De Arte Barcelona, Spain, 1967 [?]
An untraceable gallery in Germany, alongside Alfred Wallis artworks

MUSEUMS & PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Compton Verney, U.K.
Sammlung Zander, Cologne, Germany
Museum of Sao Paolo, Brazil [?]
Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles, U.S.A. [?]
Tate Gallery, London, U.K. [?]
Arts Council, London, U.K. [?]
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A. [?]

PRESS
“Miss Allen is an important discovery, an eccentric but lyrical talent.“
Sheldon Williams, The New York Herald Tribune, 1967

“…her pictures are what Queen was – ‘sensitive, sinister, pathetic, imperious, witty, tragic and prophetic.”
Anne Sharpley, London Evening Standard, 1967

“In no other sense is Miss Allen’s work primitive. Patrick Heron, trying to characterise the qualities he sees in it, alludes to Matisse, to Indian Mogul miniatures, to Etruscan frescoes, and to Paul Klee, among others, and these comparisons do not seem far-fetched. Instead, one is tempted to add to them – to point to Sienese painting of the Renaissance or to the subtler inventions of Max Ernst. Miss Allen’s pictures have that great virtue found in the best primitive art, a faultless sense of two-dimensional design that enables the artist to concentrate on the clear presentation of quite complex images while question of space, scale and formal relationships appear to look after themselves. She is also a remarkable colourist, capable of composing a picture out of areas of vivid colour without any hint of strain or violence, and also using low tones with extraordinary subtlety. Klee and Matisse would have undoubtedly been impressed by that. They would have also enjoyed the inner gaiety of almost all her pictures. When she looks at the world around her she sees a lot to amuse her – the pretensions of society, the rat-race, the pep-pills. Her religious pictures, too, usually wear a smile, but sometimes Miss Allen seems to be carried off into never-never-land, where flowers grow to wondrous heights and a placid aristocratic fish fish lies in wait for a radiantly clad Jonah, and smiles fade before an awesome sense of wonder and delight. Occasionally, her prophetic message is incorporated. But her solemnity on these occasions is so gentle, her love of the colours and textures of her scraps of cloths so evident that no one could be moved to fear so sweetly announced and end. No tub is thumped here; the message is friendly and the manner is a marvel of natural grace and innate sophistication.”
Art critic Professor Norbert Lynton, The Guardian, 19th February 1966

“Miss Allen uses colour to situate the figures in space with admirable directness, and it offsets her tendency to decorate with over-elaborate detail. In her best pictures the colour has an unusual openned, creating broad, flat spaces by subtle relationships between the figures.“
The Times, 1966

“Critics hailed her as a primitive artist with a touch of genius, and 65 of her 70 pictures were sold. … They praised Queen’s vivid colours, subtle textures and spare designs. They found great sophistication in her untutored perspective and they enjoyed her gentle ribbing of biblical figure and religious men… . After Queen’s [first] show, admirers sent her swatches of cloth, and couture houses deluged her with rich fabrics.“
Life, 16th August 1967

“From a tin hut in the trees the works of a visionary go on show. The Grandma Moses of Biggin Hill … In a timeless room in a forgotten house hidden among the trees Miss Elizabeth Allen has gazed on the Gardens of Babylon and the bustle of Wall Street. She has thought about the great problems of the world outside. And day and night she has woven her thoughts into patchwork pictures, with needle and thread and a few old coloured rags. … At first Miss Allen made her pictures to decorate cushion covers and pillow cases. Later they became part of her philosophy and interpretation of religion. … Only once has she seen a talking picture [a television]. Only once has she seen the sea. … But Miss Allen will not see the exhibition at the Crane Kalman Gallery, Brompton Road, South Kensington. She said yesterday “I am too old and too unwell. The gallery said they would provide a car, but it is too far. Naturally I am bitterly disappointed. This has been a big moment in my life. It represents much of what I have believed and a lot of the things that have inspired me over the years. … She has already sold five pictures worth £100 each.“
Daily Mail, 18th February 1966

“‘Genius?’, snorted the 83-year old genius. ‘What’s the good of that when I’m going down in my grave? In a couple of winks I shall know nothing about it. It won’t benefit me in the least’. … But the world will benefit from Miss Allen’s genius as the crator of ‘rag pictures’ as she called them, or ‘patchwork pictures’ as the critic describe them. It was Bridget who told the world of Queen’s uncanny ability to turn scraps of material into works of art that eventually had sophisticated critics beating the well-known path to her ramshackle shack. … Critics use such phrases as ‘remarkably sophisticated sense of composition’, ‘a faultless sense of two dimensional design’, and an amazingly precise language of spatial colour’ to describe the artist and her work.
Peggy Powell, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 29th September 1967

MENU
Miss Elizabeth Allen – Introduction
Miss Elizabeth Allen – Catalogue Raisonné
Miss Elizabeth Allen – Life & Work, by Hazel Conway