Scope and Contents

A scrapbook, ca. 1934-1962, containing clippings, pamphlets, and photographs; the bulk are Australian press clippings from 1935-1936 when Allen was in Melbourne; and Allen's book, The Mirror of the Passing World (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1928). Inserted in the book are a letter to Elisabeth Hooker, 1970, and a snapshot of Allen with the painters Henry and Ada Hensche and art shop owner, Will Rogers, in the Hensche's house, Provincetown, Mass.

Biographical / Historical

Painter, teacher, lecturer; Melbourne, Australia, New York, N.Y. and Provincetown, Mass. She was also known as Cecil Allen and Mary Cecil. Allen was born in Australia. She studied at the National Gallery of Victoria for several years, and briefly at the Slade School in London. In 1927, she accepted an invitation to lecture on art for the People's Institute, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation. The lectures formed the basis for her two books, The Mirror of the Passing World (1928) and Painters of the Modern Mind (1929), and for her successful lifelong career as a lecturer. She returned to Melbourne during 1935-1936, where she lectured on modern art and exhibited her work. From 1950 until her death she lived in Provincetown, Mass., returning to Australia in 1950 and 1959-1960 to exhibit and lecture. She died in Provincetown on April 7, 1962.