Allen True’s West is a regionally touring exhibition organized by the Denver Art Museum consisting of 42 works ranging from original oil paintings to periodical reproductions. The Fine Arts Center will supplement its exhibition with additional works borrowed from local collectors.
True was born in Colorado Springs in 1881 and was raised primarily in Denver. He attended the University of Denver for two years before advancing to the prestigious Howard Pyle School in Delaware and Pennsylvania, where he studied illustration along with renowned artist N.C. Wyeth, who became a lifelong friend.
Although he was a talented easel painter and illustrator, working for publications such as the Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s Weekly, True is perhaps most regarded as a muralist who devoted most of his career to depicting the American West and capturing the natural beauty of Colorado.
During the last 40 years of his life, True received numerous public and private mural commissions, including those from the Colorado, Wyoming, and Missouri state capitols. Many of his murals still decorate the walls of public buildings throughout Colorado, like the Denver Telephone Building and the Colorado National Bank. This exhibition contains 16 mural studies, highlighting this essential aspect of True’s luminous body of work.