Jesse Allen Gallery
(Jesse and his African Grey Parrot, Calliope, circa 1972)
Jesse Allen
Jesse was born in 1936 in Kenya, the scion of a distinguished
British family that had immigrated to Africa a century before. He
was educated at Oxford, studying languages, and moved to the San Francisco
area in the early 1960s, where he taught at Stanford. He had always
been interested in art, and after a few years gave up teaching to
paint full time. Jesse still lives in the Bay area, and has been
painting full time for over 40 years. For more information go to Jesse’s
groovy new personal website where he sells the fantastic art shown
here.
This picture is the central portion of the triptych
“Panorama with Goats in the Afternoon.” This aquatint from a painting was entered
in the Osaka Print Triennale, and won a purchase award. It is now part of
the permanent collection in that city’s art museum. More than 2000 prints
were entered in the competition, only 150 were shown, and only a few of this
smaller group ended up being purchased for the city.
This is a panel from the larger work, “Serpents Coupling in the Mist.”
This is an etching/aquatint, and was drawn directly on the plates
by the artist, and was not taken from a painting.
This is “Split Second,” one of Jesse’s many experiments with odd
shaped pieces of paper, which force him to think about his works in new ways.
This is one of my favorites. It is an extinct Moa. Jesse’s art
is based on dreamscapes. The animals must have an internal consistency
but they are to have a dreamlike quality. This is an aquatint taken from
a painting, but this version has a different coloration from the painting..